Forever Yours
©2025 Elder Road Books - Lynnwood WA
Chapter 10: Getting Real
DON NEGOTIATED the terms of the sale to the security software company and Henry signed the licensing agreements on behalf of the LLC. The buyer agreed to make payment after the first of the year so the group could make arrangements for taxes without being under the pressure of the year-end filing date. They needed to get their finances stabilized before they funded the corporation.
When it came to New Year’s Eve, however, they were all excited to celebrate. Carol had taken off for Cleveland as soon as the winter holiday break began, but promised Henry she’d be back for New Year’s Eve if he got them a room for the long weekend. There would still be a week of winter break after that and she planned to go on a ski trip with friends from Cleveland.
Their post-Thanksgiving reunion had been strained at first until they decided to tell each other about their encounters with their hall pass partners.
“Well, Chastity reminded me once again that she is not my girlfriend and not to get attached,” Henry said. “And when I took her out for her birthday, she didn’t want to have sex again so soon after we’d done it the night before Thanksgiving. That was fine. We went to a movie and had a good time, but she’s really my business partner. I don’t know if even those occasional get-togethers will continue anymore.”
“Don’t give up on it, really,” Carol said. “You won’t have me around forever. I can’t imagine that the few times we have sex are enough to satisfy your needs. Most of mine are sublimated into studies.”
They’d gone out Saturday evening just to have this conversation. Carol hesitated a bit before she continued with her side of the adventure.
“I’m in love,” she said finally. “And it’s frustrating as hell. I mean, we could go find a place for sex right now and it would be mostly me trying to get you to eat me to orgasm so I could forget Taylor.”
“Didn’t she ... come across?”
“Oh, hell, yeah. She sure did. And I spent hours munching between her legs and sleeping with her in my bed. Then Saturday, she packed up to go back to Michigan and told me that it had been fun, but she wasn’t going to mention it to her boyfriend or he’d want to join in. She figured that would just mean we’d always have the awkward relationship of us two girls and her husband. She’d be way too jealous for that to ever work. So, she said it was nice but that was the last time.”
“Oh, Carol, I’m so sorry. And you really love her.”
“I thought she loved me. Henry, I was prepared to come home and tell you we needed to break up because I’d found the love of my life. I’m sorry. It was selfish of me to go home for the break thinking I might actually be going to meet my forever girlfriend.”
“What do you want to do, hon?” Henry asked.
“Well, now that I’ve spewed out everything, that whole idea of having you eat me until I come so hard I forget her doesn’t sound half bad. Is there someplace we can go?” she asked.
“That depends. How do you feel about meeting my parents at breakfast tomorrow morning?” he asked.
“Oh! Shit! You mean, go to your room?”
“They’ve told me often enough that I don’t need to be afraid to bring my girlfriend home for the night. They aren’t trying to keep us apart.”
“Meet your parents?” she said hesitantly. Then she shrugged. “Okay. You met mine and we survived. I’ll try not to be too loud!”
It had been a good night and not too awkward at breakfast. That was when they decided to spend the long New Year’s weekend together. Henry reserved a room at the Suites Hotel and when he went to Cleveland early on New Year’s Eve to pick her up, he and Carol came directly back to the hotel to check in. They spent a comfortable time renewing their relationship in a way they hadn’t had a chance to do since their night in his room.
The ‘First Annual Company Holiday Party,’ as they called it, was held at the Constitution Links Golf Club. Henry and Luke were members in good standing and the party were all given wristbands that declared them too young for alcohol. All except Tom.
Tom was Chastity’s date for the party. None of the others knew him. He seemed nice enough, though he was several years older than the rest of them. That might have influenced his slightly condescending attitude toward their ‘company.’ No one bothered to correct his opinion. Carol was introduced and liked Henry’s three partners.
She took a turn dancing with both Luke and Tom as Henry danced with Chastity and Isobel. Soon, Carol was next to him again and the music had begun to slow as midnight approached.
“You’ve slept with both of them, haven’t you,” Carol whispered as she kissed his cheek.
“Whatever do you mean?” Henry asked innocently.
“Well, I knew about Chastity. There are little clues about Isobel. That last dance did not require quite that much touching. Thankfully. While you were in a clinch with Isobel, I was trying to stay out of one with Tom. He’s a little creepy. And he’s definitely been drinking.”
“He’s older, so he doesn’t have a non-alcohol wristband,” Henry said. “I hope he and Chastity plan to take a cab home.”
“Well, it’s okay that you’ve had both of them. I’d fuck both of them.”
“Hmm. I might be able to arrange that.”
“Really?”
“I don’t know if Isobel swings both ways. We’ll have to see.”
“Well, when classes start again in a week, we’ll be much too busy to screw all the time,” Carol said. “Hence, this long weekend.”
“Where are you going skiing?” Henry asked.
“There’s a little place on the lake about twenty-five miles east of Cleveland. We girls reserved it before we graduated last spring. The four of us are supposed to ski during the day and sit around drinking hot chocolate and telling stories about our great adventures at night. And maybe some schnapps.”
“Sounds like you’ll have a good time.”
“Look!” Carol pointed Henry toward where Tom was hanging on to Chastity’s arm as she tried to pull away. Carol gave Henry a little push and he headed straight for the conflict.
“That looks a little rough, Tom,” Henry said coming up to them.
“Fuck off. It’s time for us to leave this hole and start our own party.”
“I don’t want to leave, Tom. This is my party. I invited you. If you want to leave, go. I’m staying,” Chastity said, struggling to free her arm.
“I said we’re going,” Tom growled, pulling roughly at Chastity.
Henry reached out and grabbed Tom’s wrist, just as he had Chastity’s He twisted against Tom’s skin.
“Hey! Let go, you son of a bitch,” Tom said.
“You were told to leave,” Henry said. “Let go of Chastity and get your drunk ass out of here.”
“I haven’t had nearly enough to get drunk,” Tom said, pulling his hand away from both Henry and Chastity. He rounded on Henry with a fist raised, just in time to see Luke step up beside him. Isobel and Carol rushed to comfort Chastity.
“It’s time for you leave,” Henry said again. Luke nodded. The two of them escorted Tom to the door, quickly joined by one of the club security men.
“Mr. Reynolds needs to leave the club,” Henry said to the doorman. “Permanently.”
“Can I call you a cab, Mr. Reynolds?” the doorman asked. Tom spun as if to have another go at Luke and Henry, only to be met by the combined presence of the doorman and the security guard.
“You can take your filthy nigger hands off me! You two-bit punks with your whore business party. Nobody treats me like that!” Tom spent another minute shouting invective at the partners, the security, the doorman, and everyone inside, as the club employees kept him moving out of the club. Then he stumbled away to his car. As he started the car and pulled out of his parking spot, the doorman spoke into his cell phone.
“Thank you 9-1-1. This is Constitution Links. There is a party leaving the club in a blue Lexus, license plate RAD4141. It is my belief the driver is inebriated and a danger to other travelers. He declined our offer to call a cab.”
“One moment, please.” There was a moment’s silence on the line. “We’ve dispatched a patrol. Thank you for the report,” the operator said. They disconnected.
“Sorry for the inconvenience,” Luke said to the doorman. “Not one of our usual people.”
“He’s been here before,” the doorman said. “He won’t be allowed in again.”
Luke and Henry went back to where Isobel and Carol were comforting Chastity. Carol was examining the bruise discoloring her wrist already.
“I told Chastity we’d take her home tonight,” Carol said immediately.
“No problem,” Henry said.
“Is he okay?” Chastity asked.
“Don’t know. Don’t care,” Henry said. “The rest of his night is not likely to be what he imagined it would be.”
“More importantly, are you okay, Chas?” Luke asked.
“Yeah. It happens sometimes. He sounded like a nice guy when he called and I thought it would be a good innocuous date for the party. We’d have sex later and then I’d go home. Quid pro quo.”
“Chas? He called you out of the blue?” Isobel said. “Why would you accept a date with a guy you don’t even know?”
“Izzy, wake up. It’s what I do. How do you think I came up with a thousand dollars to put in the company or my rent on an apartment by myself and my two cats? Seating people at the Olde Towne Inne? I don’t have rich parents. Or any parents.”
“Shit. Honey, we’ll take care of you,” Henry said.
“You do, Henry. We have our arrangement. When the company is open and we’re rolling in money, I’ll only do it when we need something we can’t get any other way.”