Chapter 25

William had a slight smile on his face as he neared his residence. He nodded to his mother as he entered the house, “Has there been any word from Rose or Alexandria?”

“No there hasn’t. It looks like things are going smoothly on their end.” She almost seemed to frown, “Is there something the matter? I expected you home fifteen minutes ago?”

“I need to shower first. If there’s time, I’ll fill you in on the details before the ladies arrive. If not, then I will do so tonight.”

There was just under half an hour before their guests were supposed to arrive; a very quick shower at least got the smell of sex off of him, though it did leave his hair slightly damp it was better than any possible alternative. He didn’t even bother to mentally curse when there came a knocking on the entry door a full five minutes before the three were supposed to arrive. His movements were, perhaps, a bit swifter than he’d prefer, but he was quickly at the back door. He smiled brightly as he let first Alexandria, then Rose into the house. “And you must be Mrs. Franks,” he said with a smile to the unknown woman.

Eloise was frowning mentally as she took in the smooth young man before her. Still, she smiled as she took the proffered hand, “I am.” Despite herself and her exhaustive experience, she blushed slightly as he bent down to gently kiss the back of her hand.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. Please, enter and be welcomed.”

Eloise arched a manicured eyebrow at the odd phrasing. She could easily recognize a formalized greeting, but she couldn’t even begin to place the ritual that went with it. When she saw the woman already in the house, her first thought was of a pixie and her second was that the woman had to be the young man’s older sister.

Rose spoke up, “Mrs. King, allow me to introduce Eloise Franks, my mother. Mom, this is Miranda King.”

The female King smiled, “William’s mother. Pleased to meet you Mrs. Franks.”

The large woman snorted in a surprisingly unlady-like fashion, “I haven’t been ‘Mrs. Franks’ since before Rose was born. Feel free to call me Eloise.”

Miranda’s tiny hand disappeared into the other woman’s bear paw as they shook hands, “In that case, I insist you call me Miranda.”

Despite her initial impression, as Eloise shook hands with the tiny woman, she could sense something behind the pleasant façade; something dark and dangerous. Then again, she’d gotten the same feeling from some of her better bodyguards back when she was modeling way back when. Years of competing in beauty pageants against Skinny Bitches had left her with the ability to clandestinely examine a person. A skill she put to use examining the young Mr. King. He was even better at concealing it than his mother, likely a testament to her training him, but once Eloise started to Look, seriously look, she could clearly see that he was at least as much of a predator as his mother was. “Interesting,” she thought to herself, especially given that her daughter was seemingly smitten with him.

Despite their guests arriving slightly early, Miranda had the meal on the table within ten minutes.

Rose couldn’t help but smile slightly. Her mother kept trying to get the Kings to slip up in conversation but both of them were more than holding their own. In fact, at a guess, she’d say the King’s were actually enjoying the challenge.

Eloise Franks was equally intrigued and frustrated. Every time she seemed even remotely close to getting hard, substantial information on the King’s background, the other one would ask a question, deflect, or redirect the question. Usually doing so in a way that she couldn’t circle back around, not without both a lot of preparation and seeming rude.

As Rose surmised, both Miranda and William were enjoying the game. Despite the fact that either alone would almost certainly been more than a match for Eloise, they dealt with it as a way of keeping their team work in practice.

Despite their best efforts, Eloise had a disturbingly good picture of the King’s past, at least to a point. No one got that good at verbal combat without a lot of practice. Once dessert, a truly delicious pecan pie, was finished she cleared her throat, “William, may I speak with you in private please?”

“Of course,” the young man said as he led the way to the office. He very carefully didn’t take the seat behind the desk. He wanted this meeting to be a congenial as possible. However, most of his plan for how to manage this conversation crashed at the woman’s first question.

“Are you fucking my daughter?”

It was rare that William was caught off guard but it could happen; and when it did, it took him a moment or two to recover.

Eloise smiled slightly as she watched the teenager in front of her trying to get his mental balance back.

He arched an eyebrow at the woman and his tone was flatter than he’d have preferred, “No, I’m not.”

She had to keep from grinning at the further evidence that she’d finally managed to surprise the young man, “But you’re going to, aren’t you?”

He was subtly preparing for combat even as he nodded his head. His tone was closer to normal, to his ears at least, as he said, “Yes, I am.”

“Do you love her?”

This time he shrugged, “Not as such, no.”

Eloise smirked, “What’s to stop me from telling her about this?”

William cocked his head as he examined to woman for several seconds before he started nodding slowly, “You think I’m trying to inveigh her with pretty words and false promises of ‘forever’ don’t you? Yes, you do. Just a moment please.” He swept by the elder woman with the ease of much practice and opened the door, “Rose, join us please.”

The young woman rose in response to the politely phrased order and walked into the office, curious as to what prompted her summons. Once inside, and the door properly closed, she looked between the two, “How may I help you?”

William smiled, “Your mother is reasonably concerned that I might be attempting to draw you in under false pretense.”

Eloise arched an eyebrow as she saw her daughter actually giggle.

After a moment, Rose said, “Mom, William’s been upfront about virtually everything right from the get-go.”

“Including...”

“That I’m going to be expected to have sex with him,” the teenaged female said. “Yes, I’m well aware. I’m also well aware that exclusivity, particularly on his part, isn’t going to happen.”

For her part, the mother was wondering if she’d slipped into the Twilight Zone at some point. “And you’re alright with this?”

Rose smiled, “Like I said, he told me right from the start that I would be expected to serve him and I surmised that service would include sex. If I wasn’t alright with that, I’d have walked away by now.”

Eloise’s gaze sharpened, “And he’d allow you to?”

William cleared his throat even as he glared at the elder woman, “I would never try to force someone to serve me. Rose is well aware of the conditions of our arrangement and is content with them.”

Rose could feel her pussy moisten slightly as the predator that her master usually kept so carefully concealed came to the fore to protect her.

The elder Franks swallowed nervously, her previous observation about her bodyguards seemed to pale in comparison to what she was looking at now. A moment later however, the glare faded, leaving her to wonder if she’d even seen it in the first place.

William nodded, “Thank you Rose. I believe that will be all.”

The young woman nodded respectfully to her master as she took her leave.

“Now,” William said as he leaned against the desk, “does that address your concerns regarding Rose?”

“Mostly,” Eloise said cautiously. “I still have concerns about your long term plans, but those can wait for now.”

“Excellent,” he said with a broad smile. “In that case, we can move on to the next topic. You.”

The woman couldn’t help herself, she blinked, “Huh?”

The young man chuckled for a moment before he adopted a serious expression. “I’ve done my leg work on you Mrs. Franks,” he said formally. “You’re a single mother of a rather intelligent daughter. She inherited her smarts not merely from her father but from you. You spent your teens and early twenties as a model and beauty queen despite your large frame leaving you at a distinct disadvantage, and doing quite well in the process.” He smiled slightly at the woman’s shocked expression, “Following your marriage to Markus Franks, you turned your attention fully to your education, which you had intermittently maintained around your career, and received your Masters in Electrical Engineering. Currently, you are employed as an electrician at a major telecommunication company. Following your husband’s death from cancer three years previous, you have endeavored to raise your daughter alone despite working double shifts most days of the week and picking up Saturday shifts whenever possible. Currently you are severely in debt and very near defaulting on multiple loans.”