Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience. ________________________________ This is a story about a sexual FANTASY written for consenting adults. If you're not both of those, don't read it. Characters in a FANTASY don't get sick or die unless I want them to. In real life, people who don't use condoms and other safe-sex techniques do get sick and die. You don't live in a FANTASY so be safe. The fictional characters in my stories are trained and experienced in acts of FANTASY - don't try to do what they do - someone could get hurt. If you think you know somebody who resembles any of the characters here, congratulations, but you're wrong - any similarity between the characters in this story and any real person is purely coincidental, since all of these characters are figments of my dirty little imagination. This is my story, not yours. Don't sell it or put it on a pay site. You can keep it and/or give it away with all of this information intact, but if you make money off of it without my permission, you're breaking the law and pissing me off. _________________________________ Surviving the Divorce - Chapter 16 (MHf anal) (C)Copyright 2005 - Shakes Peer2B shakes_peer2b@NONOsbcglobal.net (remove 'NONO' from the above address to contact me) /files/Authors/Shakes_Peer2B/ http://storiesonline.net/library/author.php?name=Shakes_Peer2B ________ "What do you know about Luella Dawson?" I asked Patricia over two plastic tubs filled with babies and splashing water. She was bathing Artemis while I did my best to get Atea to hold still for his bath. "You mean the bitch who crashed our wedding reception?" she laughed, "She's a vindictive witch with a mean streak a mile wide, why?" "What grudge is she holding against you?" I asked. I wasn't avoiding her question, I just wanted more context before I answered. "She used to run SyncComp - not very well, but it was hers." Patricia said, "When I saw its potential for P2P integration, I started buying stock. I didn't even have to file for a hostile takeover. When her board found out I was interested, they practically begged me to take over the company. She made a killing on her stock options, and she had a pretty good golden parachute, too, but she's never forgiven me for firing her from the CEO position." "Ah." I said, "Perhaps that explains why she's gotten into bed, literally, with Erikson over this takeover bid. She recently bought a sizeable chunk of SyncComp stock on her own, and I, not knowing which way the wind blew, went to see her, to see what she would do if it came down to brass tacks." "So, what will she do?" Patricia asked. "Well, that's not the real story." I rinsed Atea's body with a pitcher full of warm water, and he squealed happily, kicking his chubby legs with glee. "I could tell, almost as soon as she opened her mouth, that she was following a personal agenda. On a hunch, I asked a few questions that she wasn't expecting, and she as good as told me she was in cahoots with Lenny. I asked Gloria to do a little digging, and she found out that they've been sleeping together on nights when he 'works late'." "So what was her 'personal' agenda?" Patricia jumped, laughing, as 'Little 'Mis' suddenly discovered the joy of splashing water, "Hey! You little imp! I wasn't planning to shower for a couple of hours yet!" Our daughter gurgled happily, slapping at the water in her tub with both hands and showering the vicinity with wetness. "I'm not certain, but I believe she wanted to break us up, while ruining you." I said. Atea came eagerly into the warm, fluffy towel I used to gather him from the bath, "She told me that if I would spend the night with her and do whatever she wanted, she would vote against a takeover." "So what did she say when you turned her down?" Patricia asked casually. "I didn't." As a joke, I intended to let her sweat it out a little, but the devastation that swept across her face kept me from taking it any further, "I left her with 'I'll keep it in mind...' I hope that will keep her from abandoning her current plan in favor of another, at least for now." I carried little Atea over to his mom and sister and gave Patricia a heartfelt kiss. "She tried to make it a choice between sleeping with her and losing the company. What she doesn't realize is that she and Lenny, in acquiring so much SyncComp stock may have given us a third option." "Which is...?" Patricia asked. I told her about my plans and got a kiss and a grin in return. "You deserve more than that, but I need to get these guys fed! Keep Rachel in the loop, okay?" she said, bouncing 'Missy to hear her laugh, "She's got some experience with this sort of thing." "I am," I replied, "and Gloria's been a big help, too. She's been through this with other CEO's and has some amazing channels for gathering information." "All right, dear!" she said, "I wanted you in that job for a reason, and I'm not going to start second-guessing you now. But please remember, Collins Industries is Carmen's only source of income, okay? I don't worry about us. We'll find a way to survive, but if Carmen ever decides to leave the Islands, she'll need that money." "I appreciate your confidence, sweetheart." I said, "I may need to lean on your experience as we go along, and I never forget that CI is the major source of income for you as well as for Carmen. If it's possible to head this off, we'll do it. At the moment, it looks like we may even be able to prevent future takeover attempts for a while." ______ "I still think you should go public with it!" Gloria said. "I know how you feel, Gloria." I said, "but it's not illegal, and the man has a family. While they're eventually going to have to deal with this amongst themselves, I won't be the instrument of the family's destruction. It's bad enough that I'm going to try to destroy his hold over his business!" "But, damnit, he DESERVES it after what he did to HumanSoft!" she ranted. "I don't disagree," I said, "but his wife and daughter don't. It's going to be bad enough when they find out on their own. To pile it on top of what I'm about to do to him would just be too much, and I like being able to sleep at night!" "Well, do you mind if I slip it to the tabloids or something?" Gloria had had friends at HumanSoft when Seer took the company over and dismantled it, putting a lot of good people on the street. I could understand her desire for revenge. "It's going to be bad enough for him when this is over," I said, "without us going public with his affair with Luella Dawson. Besides, that could backfire on us, and hurt us in the public eye. No. I don't give you many orders, Gloria, but this one you need to follow. Do not leak this information to the public! I don't have a problem with letting him THINK I will, but I'll only do it as a last resort!" "You're the boss, boss." she grumbled, just as the phone rang. She picked it up and spoke to the person on the other end, then turned to me. "It's Rachel's assistant." she whispered, even though she had the call on hold, "She's got Lenny Erikson on the line!" "Okay, put it on speaker, but don't let them know you're here." I instructed Gloria. "Put him on, Kathy." I told the girl on the other end. "Yes, sir!" she replied. "Hello, Lenny!" I said into the speakerphone after the click that told me she had connected the call. "Who am I speaking to?" the voice on the other end asked. "This is Gary Travis, Lenny." I replied, "CEO of Collins Industries." "Strange that I should wind up speaking to you when I called Rachel Hancock." He didn't sound surprised. "Not strange at all!" I said, "I asked Rachel to have her assistant transfer any calls from you to my phone." "Okay," Lenny was not one to be sidetracked easily, as his track record showed, "I guess you'll do. Have you seen my latest offer for SyncComp?" "Why, yes, I was just looking at it, and I wanted to thank you!" "You're welcome... for what?" he answered, perplexed. "For the best laugh I've had in a couple of weeks, Lenny!" I said, "I know you're not serious about this offer, so what DID you call about?" "Just to let you know that I WILL have SyncComp." He replied, "No matter what you do. And when I get it, I'll dismantle it, piece by piece. Without SyncComp, that whole house of cards you and Patricia Collins have built will come tumbling down! That's what happens when you play in the big leagues, rookie!" "Well that's awfully nice of you, Lenny," I said, "to give us fair warning like that, but you might want to check your 'In' box. I couriered over my offer for Seer this morning. As you will see, it's a serious offer, not one of the jokes you like to call offers." "You WHAT!" He roared, "You can't do that! That's - that's anti-competitive! I can get away with buying SyncComp because I don't have competing products! As Collins Industries, you have products in your subsidiaries that compete with some of Seer's!" "Actually," I said, "we've been all through this with our legal staff, the SEC and the FTC, and as long as we make certain guarantees to those agencies, we'll have no trouble getting approved. After the acquisition we'll spin off and sell those applications that compete with any of our companies, and keep the core database business." "It doesn't matter, anyway!" he said, "You'll never get enough shares to control my board, and I've got THEM in my pocket!" "I hate to break it to you, Lenny," I said, "Some of your board members seem to like the way we do business better than your way, and have already expressed willingness to support our offer. Meanwhile, remember how you and Luella got the cash to purchase so much SyncComp stock? Well, guess who bought the Seer shares you sold?" That was the problem with working with someone outside your control. You could never be sure what the other was going to do. In this instance, between the two of them they had sold enough stock, most of which we had picked up, to give us a compelling advantage in a proxy battle. "What do you intend to do?" he asked, shaken. "Well, for one thing, I've already filed for an injunction to halt any major acquisitions or sales of assets on Seer's part while our bid is being considered." I said, "That means that by tomorrow your stake in SyncComp will be frozen in its current legal state. You are still an investor, but until CI's bid for Seer is resolved, you can't actually acquire it." Gloria was covering her mouth and shaking with suppressed laughter. "My lawyers will bury you with paper!" he almost screamed, "They'll file so many motions and lawsuits against you personally and CI in general, that it will take years to dig out from under them!" "I'm sure they'd be happy to do that for you, Lenny!" I said, "But are you sure it's wise? I mean, we'll have to fight each and every one of them. My wife has assured me that I can have full use of her family's resources, if need be, and you're already short on cash. Even if you can afford a lengthy court battle, that could take years, and the injunction will still be there. You'll be holding a pile of stock that you can't sell, for a company you can't acquire. And then there's all that public testimony about how you and Dawson came to work together on this scheme..." My assistant's eyes went wide when she heard what I was saying, and suddenly, she understood. She gave me two thumbs up and waited with bated breath for Erikson's response. "What do you mean?" he was suddenly cautious, "We haven't done anything illegal!" "Oh, I'm sure you haven't." I said, "But that won't matter to your family when they show the pictures in court, will it? That would be an awfully messy divorce!" "You son of a bitch!" he screamed, "You breathe a word of this to my wife, and I'll, I'll...!" Gloria had to clap both hands over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud! "Now, is that what I said, Lenny?" I asked mildly, "I have no desire to break up your family, but during an investigation like the ones that will come out of all those lawsuits, well, it's bound to come out!" "You... you...!" for the first time since I had met him, Lenny Erikson couldn't think of anything to say! "Well, thanks for the call, Lenny!" I said cheerfully, "Have a nice day!" As soon as I punched the button to turn off the phone, Gloria practically launched herself at me, nearly bowling me over in her eagerness to hug me! "Gloria, please!" I laughed, "Let's have a little decorum here!" "Boss," she said, wiping away tears of laughter "You have just made my day! That son of a bitch is stuck between a rock and a hard place, now! Not bad for a 'rookie'!" "Well," I smiled, "let's not gloat yet. It's still going to be a long, hard battle." The phone rang again. Rachel had stayed on the call and listened in, too. I had suggested as much when I asked her to forward Erikson's calls to me. SyncComp was, after all, her responsibility. "You sneaky devil!" she laughed, "I wondered what you were up to! Have you really got that much Seer stock locked up?" "CI does, and we've got backing from other Seer investors." I replied, "I wanted to play this close to my vest until I was sure, but now, even if it came down to a proxy battle for Seer, we'd win. Of course, if Lenny can get enough of his board to vote with him, he could still activate a poison pill and issue enough stock to cancel our majority. I don't think that's going to happen though. I've held closed-door meetings with each of his board members and most of them would be in favor of a CI buyout, especially at the terms we're offering." Seer's lawyers contested the injunction against their company taking any action on SyncComp, but that was expected. They lost, since Seer's board was seriously considering our generous offer, and it was a reasonable request during an acquisition. The promised flood of lawsuits never materialized. I guess Lenny took my implied threat seriously. It took almost six months to complete our acquisition of Seer. Afterward, Luella Dawson held onto her SyncComp shares. After all, they WERE paying her a healthy dividend. Since Seer owned a big chunk of SyncComp, those shares went back into CI with Seer, giving us a 50.03% share of SyncComp, and, for the moment, an unassailable position as its majority stockholder. To prevent future takeover attempts of any of the CI companies, we immediately took steps to merge the original companies under the Collins Industries banner, finally making CI a bricks and mortar enterprise instead of a paper company. My office moved into a brand, spanking new building on the Peninsula, along with the rest of the new CI corporate staff. Seer, except for the CEO, came willingly into the Collins Industries fold. Seems we had a reputation as a good employer, and a track record for success that was hard to argue with. Most of the people who came with the company stayed. I actually offered to allow Lenny Erikson to keep his position, since he WAS an able chief executive. He wasn't comfortable with the idea, and, truth to tell, neither was I, but he stayed on until we hired a successor. Shortly after we found a replacement for Lenny, Felicia's friend Jenny showed up at our house. Felicia was enjoying a sandwich when the intercom in the playroom buzzed. She was impaled in front by Patricia, and from the rear by yours truly! The timing might have been more awkward, but it's hard to imagine how! I asked Felicia to leave some of Patricia's milk for the babies, as she was sucking and moaning so loudly I could barely hear what Edgar was saying! "Master Gary, there's a young lady to see you." Edgar informed me through the intercom, "She seems rather upset!" Reluctantly, I disengaged from my young lover's ass, and with a brief apology to both of the sexy ladies, went to answer. "Did she give her name?" "She said to tell you that Jenny wants to speak with you, NOW." the butler replied, "She was rather adamant about having to see you immediately, I'm afraid." I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out what Felicia's friend would be mad at me about, but I told Edgar to show her into the sitting room and to ask Gwen to prepare some refreshments. I urged the ladies to continue while I showered quickly, and when I emerged, toweling my hair, they were just rolling apart, sated looks on both of their lovely faces! Jenny was fuming when I walked in, and immediately exploded. "How could you?!" she screamed, "How could you do that to my father?!" "Slow down, Jenny." I said, taking a seat opposite her. "Who is your father, and what do you think I've done to him?" "You know very well who my father is!" she cried, "You just fired him from the company he built!" I vaguely remembered Felicia saying something about her father being a 'High Mucky-muck' in some unnamed company. Was it possible...? "Hang on, Jenny." I said, "What's your last name?" "Erikson, damn you!" she shouted, "How COULD you!?" "Uncle Gary?" Felicia came into the room, having heard her friend's outburst, "What's going on?" "I just found out that your friend is Lenny Erikson's daughter, and she's upset about him losing his company. Will you give us a few moments please?" I asked. Patricia soon appeared, carrying Atea, followed by Carmen with little 'Mis. My wife handed our son to Felicia, saying, "Be a dear and help Carmen change these two, will you?" Felicia was a sucker for the twins, even with wet diapers, and eagerly complied. "I believe you want to discuss your father and Collins Industries' takeover of his company?" Patricia addressed our guest "Yeah!" she said, turning back to me, "How could you do that to him?!" Patricia started to say something, but I caught her eye and gave a miniscule shake of the head. This was my mess and it was up to me to clean it up. There was an amused glint in her eye when she nodded her acquiescence. I paused for a moment trying to think how best to approach the subject with someone whose thoughts were clouded by strong emotions. "Do you remember when your father's company took over HumanSoft, Jenny?" I asked. "I should!" She said, "That was one of his greatest achievements!" "As a business transaction," I said, "It was, indeed, a coup. But think of all the people who lost their jobs as a result of that transaction. Think of their families and how many of their sons and daughters felt just the way you feel now." I could see her mind churning over that as I continued, "You are aware that your dad intended to do something similar with SyncComp, right?" She nodded tearfully. "And you're aware that SyncComp is a Collins Industries company?" "Yeah. I've studied your career." she said bitterly, "I used to think you were a great man!" "Well, a lot of the people at SyncComp are my friends, and my wife's friends." I said gently, "We couldn't just sit by and watch them lose their jobs, but it goes further than that." "If you're familiar with CI's product structure," I lectured, "you know that SyncComp is the kingpin of the product strategy that drives those companies." Jenny nodded impatiently. "Now imagine what would have happened to all those other companies if SyncComp were to be dismantled the way HumanSoft was." I continued, "Imagine all the families of all the thousands of people who would have lost their jobs, and how they would feel. I couldn't let that happen, Jenny. Even if we had been successful in protecting SyncComp from your father's takeover bid without buying his company, with all the stock his company had accumulated, there was no guarantee he wouldn't try again. In fact, the odds were good that he WOULD keep trying, since we were gradually eroding his market." The tears had left her eyes, though her makeup was a mess as she nodded for me to continue. "The only option open to me that would prevent any future takeover of SyncComp, as well," I said, "was to turn the tables on Seer and buy them out. Now, clearly, your father hasn't told you that I offered to let him stay on...?" "No, he wouldn't do that!" she said, wiping at her eyes with a wadded up paper towel she had apparently brought with her, "He had to be the top dog! He couldn't work for you, especially after you beat him at his own game!" "Nonetheless, the offer was made." I said, "And your father leaves the company with his finances in much better shape than did most of the employees of HumanSoft. We paid slightly higher than the asking price for the outstanding shares. He had a lot of stock options, and we honored the terms of his contract as far as termination pay and benefits. He's far from destitute, Jenny. He'll get back on his feet." "B-but Seer was his LIFE!" she cried, "He's been in the dumps for weeks, and you didn't see how crushed he was when he got up yesterday morning and realized he didn't have a place to go to work!" "I'm sure it's hard on him, Jenny." I said, "I know it was hard on me when I lost MY job AND got divorced a few years back. But look what's happened to me since! Your father is an intelligent man with a lot of energy and a well known reputation in the industry. All he has to do is find another place to apply himself. Give him a little while to get over this, and he'll be back on top in no time!" "Yeah," she sighed, slumping in her seat, "I guess you're right." Gwen chose that moment to enter with a tray of snacks and pitchers of iced tea and lemonade, as well as bottled water. Jenny gratefully took one of the water bottles and gulped a couple of swallows. "I wanted somebody to hate." she said morosely staring through the bottle at nothing, "I thought I needed somebody to be mad at and blame all my troubles on, but you've been so nice! You could have just tossed me out! If you had, I could still hate you, but you really are the guy that Felicia brags about all the time. I thought it was too good to be true, but you really are 'Uncle Gary'!" "Enough of that, young lady!" Patricia laughed, "His head is big enough already! Pretty soon we won't be able to find a hat that fits him!" "That's not a problem." I answered, smiling, "I don't wear hats!" "Seriously, Mr. Travis, Mrs. Travis," she said, with a wan smile, "Thanks for taking the time to hear me out and talk to me. If it had been Felicia coming to my house to bitch, I doubt if anyone would even have let her in!" "Not a problem, Jenny." I said, "Look, I don't know how things are at home, but if you need a place to hang out, and just get away for a while, well, Felicia's here a lot, and I'm sure you two can find something to do." "Thanks, 'Uncle Gary'!" she actually smiled when she said that, "Where is Felicia? Can I see her before I go?" "Sure! I've got some work to do, but I'm sure Edgar can help you find her. I'll ring for him..." I said, but Patricia cut me off. "I think I know where they are." she said, "If you like, I'll take you." "That'd be great!" the young redhead said. She sniffled and wiped her nose with a napkin from the snack tray. The next few months were hectic. I chafed over the lack of time spent with my son and daughter, not to mention the rarity of sex with my lovely bride. Carmen returned home to the Islands, and Patricia threw herself full time into motherhood. I would come home to find her, dead tired, still trying to get the little ones to sleep, yet once they slept, her face took on a glow it had never worn before. We had to figure out an effective structure for the merged CI companies and divest Seer of a couple of subsidiaries that were considered to be in direct competition with CI. Other than that, we left Seer intact. Rachel Hancock became indispensible in all of this, and as we moved from acquisition to integration, took on more and more of the company's leadership. When I promoted her to Chief Operating Officer, it was only applying the title to what she was already doing. Somewhat to my surprise, almost all of the original CI CEO's stayed on as VP's of the merged company. Their roles became more specialized, but I tried to match their strengths with the demands of the positions, and it seemed to work out well. The acquisition of Seer gave us an opportunity we had never expected to have for promoting our integrated enterprise strategy and we jumped on it with both feet! As a premier supplier of the database engines on which so many enterprise applications were built, we were able to build SyncComp connectivity into the product. The addition was transparent to traditional users, but wide open to integrators. If application designers chose to use it, they would suddenly find whole new markets opening before them. As one third party VP of Engineering put it: "Are you kidding? Double the size of our market with only half a person-year effort? Why the hell wouldn't I?!!" The twins were walking, well, toddling, by the time things started becoming more or less routine, and I had mostly forgotten about Lenny and Luella. Jenny, though, was becoming a fixture in our household. Almost any time Felicia was there, and a few times when she wasn't, Jenny was there. Both were delightful to have around, though it pretty much put an end to our dalliances with Felicia. Just as well. Felicia came to see us one day, gushing about this guy she met at college! Well, her eighteenth birthday was past, and as far as we could tell, she had kept her part of the bargain, so we wished her well. I put on my 'daddy' hat and gruffly told her to bring the little twerp by so I could check him out and make sure he was right for her. Felicia, of course, saw through me. "Oh stop, Uncle Gary!" she laughed, "You know you just want me to be happy! My time with you guys has helped me understand better what I really want in a man, and Ben has it. I'll bring him by, but you'd better be nice!" One day, about six months after the Seer acquisition, Gloria knocked and stepped into my office. "There's a young lady out here asking to see you." she said, wearing a worried, puzzled expression, "She seems troubled about something, and keeps calling you 'Uncle Gary'. Do you want to talk to her?" "Does she have black hair, college age?" I asked, wondering what Felicia would need that brought her here. "Right age," Gloria replied, "wrong hair color. This one's a redhead." "Jenny?" I said. Now I was REALLY puzzled! "Please, show her in, and re-schedule anything I've got coming up in the next half-hour or so."