Chapter 18

The week before several of the regional colleges took Spring Break, there was an undercurrent at J.A.M. that Jennifer did not understand at first.

First, there seemed to be more visits by legal teams from several outside firms to the offices of J.A.M. Two were from Boston, but one that visited more often than others was local.

Early in the week, Jennifer tried to ask Heather about it once, out of simple curiosity. Heather simply smiled, held up a hand, and told Jennifer that she could not say what was going on right at that moment. But, she assured Jennifer that all would be revealed within a week or two; she also smiled and said that whatever was happening would be beneficial to everyone at J.A.M., but she could not be any more informative than that until after she got the word from Mr. Morris.

Second, and this was the thing that really had all the Administrative Assistants in the Executive Wing curious and coming up with imaginative reasons as they laughed with each other on break; the frequency of visits to the Senior VP wing by the EPOD ladies appeared to be way down!

Either the men were not as horny or demanding, or else the ladies were otherwise engaged.

Unbeknownst to Jennifer and the other Administrative Assistants at J.A.M., who were really very good observers of events; and very good analysts, often zeroing right in on what might really be happening; this time, there was actually a really simple explanation for the drop-off in ‘appointments’ for the EPOD ladies.

Nature and travel!

Since all the ladies had been hanging around together at Jan Pittman’s, Mouse Collins’, and Andrea Steadman’s houses most every afternoon, enjoying time at the pool time, and having great conversation time – all while sitting around gloriously naked – quite a few of their internal rhythms had evidently begun to synchronize a bit.

Now, that is an oversimplification, granted; but it just so happened that the menstrual periods of all but four of the EPOD ladies had begun this month within two days of each other. And Andrea, even though she had a bad case of cramps, also had a hectic class schedule at Middlebury College, with two major tests and an important paper, all scheduled for or due right after Spring Break; so, she was not available to meet any of the Executive booty calls that might have otherwise come her way.

The four who did not have the physically debilitating circumstances – Jan, Midge, Madison, and Kari – were in Boston together; supposedly shopping for the week. Mo had even dispatched his own limo for transportation for them.

Jennifer also noticed that her boss, Brad Pittman, was a bit out of sorts for some reason this week. She hoped that it was a passing thing.

But her natural mothering instinct came out, as it did whenever Jennifer’s own two kids had something bothering them and said, “Nothing,” when she asked them what it was.

“Brad Pittman,” Jennifer scolded him on Tuesday morning, well into the second day of his quiet sulk, and ‘Nothing’ responses, “now you tell me what is going on with you. And I mean right now! We can’t run a successful business here with you in a huff!” She had said it with a chastising tone, but she could not help but see the humor and absurdity in her comments to her boss; thus, Brad could detect the twinkle in her eye as she finished her harangue.

“Yes, Mother!” he responded, causing both of them to break up in mild laughter. ‘At least he is smiling and laughing now,’ Jennifer thought.

“Look, Jen... , “ Brad began, and then, looking at the open office door, nodded his head toward the opening. Jennifer nodded and rose to close the door before returning to the chair she had occupied in front of Brad’s desk.

“Anyway,” Brad said, “I guess that I can be a bit honest with you about my concerns for Janice in the area of...” Here, he lowered his voice a bit and paused to gauge Jennifer’s willingness to accept the topic, “ ... EPOD.”

Jennifer paused for only a couple of seconds before responding. “Brad, you and Jan are both very special friends to me and my family, even with you being my boss; despite all of this EPOD business. I believe that I have come to accept that the choices that you two have made...” At this point, Jennifer leaned forward and emphasized the word, “TOGETHER, and without any guilt or recriminations that could damage your marriage ... are yours to make. And yours to manage.

“And it’s the same with the other couples around here, like the Clarkes, the Burtons, the Collins, and the Dunhams, who have made those types of choices. I certainly will not make any negative judgments about two people who are my friends, and people who I ... who I love!”

Brad raised his eyebrows upon hearing the “L” word coming from his Secretary – no; got to remember that she is now an Administrative Assistant.

“You just do not know how much Jan and I appreciate our relationship with you, Jen. We truly value your friendship, along with your professionalism here on the job, and your ready acceptance of our ... uh ... unusual lifestyle choices; and, above all, your discretion in all of this. I hope that you realize that we love you too, in our own way.”

“Well,” Jennifer responded, blushing a bit at Brad’s response, “in that case, you should know that you can trust me enough to share whatever is bothering you so that I might help. I have seen you with furrowed brow for the past two days, and I am concerned about you.”

Brad breathed out once and then opened up to his AA about what was on his mind.

Jennifer listened attentively as Brad told her that the company was about to make a major business move here in the region. There were rumors of a major deal that involved a combination buy-out and merger with a heretofore unnamed business entity. To accomplish this, there needed to be one or two more agreements in place concerning some outside assistance with the financing.

As both companies in the combination buy-out and merger were privately owned, there needed to be special financial backing from some venture capital folks that helped in all of this – for a healthy fee, of course. These ‘arrangers’ that J.A.M. was using were located in Boston, and Mr. Morris had appeared to have everything nailed down – until the previous Friday, when they balked for some reason.

“That is when Mo upped the ante,” Brad declared. Jennifer nodded upon hearing Brad use the nickname used for the President of J.A.M. Aluminum. She watched Brad as he framed what he wanted to say next.

“He decided to offer to sweeten the deal a bit,” Brad said with a frown. Jennifer waited for more; and, a moment later, Brad added the word, “offline.”

Confused for a moment, Jennifer frowned as she considered just what she had heard. ‘Offline’ usually meant without an electronic trail; sometimes not even a physical paper trail. But, if this were to be a legitimate transaction, then there would have to be records for every detail; unless...

Jennifer looked startled suddenly as she asked Brad, “You mean he offered them...” and she just could not bring herself to say it.

“Pussy!” Brad said simply. “He offered four of the EPOD wives as ... uh... ‘messengers’ for the receipt of the final papers guaranteeing the financial backing for the deal. Their four executives will be staying at a private location in Boston this week for the, uh, exchange.”

“So,” Jennifer said, now understanding more, “Jan and three other EPOD ladies...” She could not help but call them ‘ladies’, despite the disparaging labels that the public might give them, “are going to have to have sex with these men to get them to sign on for the deal.”

“That’s it in a nutshell,” Brad acknowledged. “I have been okay with the rules of EPOD when all we had to deal with were horny executives here in the company. I mean, I KNOW all of these guys.” Here, Brad turned to look out his window for a moment as he continued.

“I DON’T know the guys in Boston. And I don’t want another Riggs situation to develop for Jan. Hell, for any of the ladies tagged with going along on this trip.” Brad turned back to look at Jennifer.

“Who all is going besides Jan?” Jennifer asked.

“Well, let’s see,” Brad said, as he recalled the conversation that he had had with Jan. The fact that Mr. Morris had called the wives, rather than the husbands, to pass along what he needed of them, mildly irritated Brad. He would hope that Mo would see the need to consult the EPOD husbands in something as sensitive as this, rather than the wives. But, he also knew of the special place in Mo’s heart that Jan held; so, he could not be too irritated.

Brad had also gotten confirmation that Mark Dunham had only learned of Kari’s involvement by his wife telling him about receiving a call from Jan.

“As I understand it,” Brad continued on his previous train of conversation, “the deal involves Jan, along with Midge Burton, Kari Dunham, and Madison Scott. From what she tells me, two of the interested parties are younger, like in their late twenties or early thirties – thus, Jan and Kari; while the other two are late-thirties-early-forties – thus, Madison and Midge.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Jennifer said, if only to acknowledge Brad’s words positively, despite how strange it all seemed to her; talking about major companies trading sex for business favors.

“Anyway,” Brad continued, “I was hoping that, during our talk Monday, I did not piss off Mo when I told him that I would appreciate his talking to me next time, rather than having my wife pass along the information. He calmed me down and said that he understood; he also said he was even sending along his own executive protection chauffeur, Robert, to transport the ladies in Mo’s limo to Boston and to act as a bit of security for them. Then, he said something a bit unusual. He said he had even contracted an additional level of security, but he did not go into details.”

Suddenly, Brad blushed, surprising Jennifer. What he said next gave her insight into his sudden embarrassment, and actually embarrassed her as well. “Jan tried to get me to calm down the night before they left. She even had Midge and Kari over to tell me all about it and to convince me that everything would be all right. And, you know Jan. Her idea of selling me on the whole thing involved all of us getting into the shower together; and ... well, let’s just say that I acquiesced.”

Jennifer was suddenly very aware of the wet gusset of her panties at that moment as her own libido began to burn. She could just envision her very handsome, virile boss naked in a large walk-in shower with three equally-naked ladies – Jan, Midge, and Kari – and maybe Jennifer herself! She could even see him bending first Jan, and then Midge, and then Kari, and then Jennifer herself over to fuck them as warm water cascaded over all four of them. As she imagined Brad shooting his load of hot cum into the pussy of someone other than his wife – someone like Kari Dunham or even Jennifer Crandall – she almost moaned.

“Uh, excuse me, Boss,” Jennifer said as she rose. “I need to go powder my nose.” With that, she rushed out the door, heading toward the ladies’ room in the hall.

Brad was surprised for a moment at the sudden departure of his AA; until he detected it!

Pussy! He was smelling the scent of a very aroused woman!

‘I guess Jennifer CAN get excited by all the talk of this EPOD activity,’ Brad thought to himself with a smile now. ‘It’s a good thing that she has Matt now as a relief valve for all the pent-up sexual energy that a hot woman like her surely must have.’

Then, for a moment, Brad caught himself wondering just how Jennifer might look without her clothes on, bent over in a shower with his stiff cock plunging into her waiting pussy; and also wondering why only now was he considering his AA in terms like ‘hot’. He shook his head, trying to banish those thoughts, as he turned back to the papers on top of his desk.

But he did have to adjust his partially-hard cock that was caught at an odd angle in his boxers.

With Jan and Midge, along with Kari Dunham and Madison Scott, off to Boston for a ‘business trip,’ there was a much smaller pool of EPOD ladies on hand to satisfy the desires of the older executives.

But, as they had been prepared by Jan’s alerts to the situation – and Mother Nature had finally begun to finish her call on the ladies for another month – Chaz Clarke, Mouse Collins, and Carol Mitchum upped their game a bit in order to have more of their time available in case they received a booty call.

Nevertheless, there appeared to be no EPOD call that was left unanswered during Spring Break week. In fact, with all the mysterious preparation for some upcoming business deal, there actually seemed to be significantly fewer EPOD calls this week overall because of the intensity of all the business negotiations going on.

Tuesday evening, Heather got a frantic call from the security desk at J.A.M. Aluminum. She needed to get over to the plant offices ASAP! Mr. Morris and Mr. Mitchum, who had replaced Mr. Kennedy as CFO, were already in their offices and they needed her there on what they had termed ‘a delicate matter’ with respect to activities in Boston.

Heather knew right away that this meant that the situation must have something to do with the EPOD ladies who were on that special Boston expedition, and the executives were simply being discreet in asking for Heather’s assistance.

Thanking the security officer, Heather immediately dialed Jennifer’s number and asked her to come in to the plant to join her and to assist with the emergency. If this were to turn out to involve Jan Pittman in any way, Heather figured that Brad Pittman, at some point, would need some help with things, if only to have someone like his Administrative Assistant handle the phones for him, or even maybe make travel arrangements, if that were needed.

By Wednesday morning, following a long night of worry about the EPOD ladies and their mission to Boston, significant information finally came in concerning the situation.

Jan, Midge, and Kari were all okay, if only exhausted. Madison Scott had been physically attacked, beaten, and sexually assaulted by unknown perpetrators. She had been found by a college-age Pizza Grande Delivery Associate, and was given first aid until professional first responders had arrived, along with police investigators.

Madison had been transported to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, where she was treated for a dislocated shoulder and bruised ribs, along with some other bruises and cuts, from where she had been manhandled into an alley. She had been raped by at least one assailant – the total number of attackers had not yet been determined – and the skin across her back had been cut, almost inscribed, with some sharp instrument, leaving as-yet-unrecognized patterns.

“I want you home! Now!” Jennifer heard her boss bark into the phone on his desk, set to speaker mode. She stood across from Brad and watched the combination of worry and anger move across the expression lines of his handsome face.

“Sweetie, you know I love you and would do anything that you reasonably ask,” they heard Jan reply on the other end, along with hospital sounds in the background, “but Madison needs me here! This is all still fresh and she has not stopped trembling since she woke up late last night – well, I guess, early this morning, actually.”

Jan sounded as if all the activities there in Boston from the previous day, and continuing all night, may have had the indestructible Janice Pittman – somewhat of an unstoppable force here in Middlebury – about to collapse in exhaustion.

“What do the doctors say about her injuries?” asked Jennifer, concerned for her friend, but also for her friend’s friend, Madison Scott, and a very familiar personality here at J.A.M.

“Her shoulder and bruises should be healed within a few weeks. She will require a couple of months of physical therapy as well for the shoulder. There were no internal injuries, thank God!” Jennifer and Brad could almost see Jan in their minds’ eyes heaving a sigh. “And she seems to be clear following a check for ... STDs; but we will know more about that later.” Here, Jan breathed an audible sigh of relief before continuing.

“It’s the way that those ... those ANIMALS cut her back to pieces that has us worried!” They could hear the venom in Jan’s voice now. “It is as if they were marking her with gang symbols by carving them into her back!” This time, they could hear Jan pause and take another audible breath before continuing.

“But, the doctors say that, with a bit of cosmetic surgery, and with some antibiotics to fight off the possibility of infection, she should have minimal scarring from all of this.” Brad and Jennifer glanced at each other upon hearing that piece of news. They both recognized that, for any woman, but especially for a woman as beautiful as Madison Scott was, the idea of being scarred in ANY way would be abhorrent. That kind of thing could cause great harm to her own self-image.