Climbing the Ladder 5 - Reaching New Heights
Copyright© 2026 by Michael Loucks
Chapter 22: I Know More Words
Fiction Sex Story: Chapter 22: I Know More Words - Jonathan's business life is booming, but he's also suffering from yet another loss. While he's done his best to pick up the pieces of that sundered relationship, he can't help but feel responsible. However, where two close relationships have withered, another blooms. Violet has transitioned from a badly damaged girl to a vibrant woman. Will he continue to climb this ladder, or will there be another ladder to climb in his future? No matter what, the only direction he plans to go is up.
Caution: This Fiction Sex Story contains strong sexual content, including Ma/Fa Workplace
July 15, 1984, Chicago, Illinois
"Nelson said to give you these," Costas said after we greeted each other when he and Trevor arrived mid-afternoon on Sunday.
He handed me a sheaf of papers.
I flipped through the papers and saw they were all in order, and that the 'Chicago Boys Investment Club' was transferring $75,000 into the Cincinnatus Fund. The members were Costas, Trevor, Dustin, Archie, and Rick, who each contributed $15,000 and committed to invest at least $2000 each and every year.
"I'll turn these in tomorrow," I said. "It'll take about two weeks to transfer the money from the account Nelson had you set up. Any of you can add money at any time, but it'll be up to you to ensure you keep track of shares, and any redemption will go back to the funding account."
"Nelson explained everything," Costas said. "For now, we're going to try to keep the shares equal."
"Cool."
Dustin, Archie, and Rick arrived a few minutes later, and after getting everyone something to drink, we all sat on the sectional sofas, joined by Violet, Bianca, and Nicole.
"Nicole is my girlfriend," Bianca announced. "She'll be moving in on August 15th."
"So the only straight ones here are Violet and Jonathan?" Rick asked.
"Until CeCi and Deanna arrive," I replied. "They're my other two roommates."
"Deanna is the artist," Costas said to Rick. "Most of the work on the walls is hers."
"There are also a few by Kendra, one of Deanna's friends," I added.
"Have you seen the gallery upstairs?" Bianca asked.
"I think everyone but Rick has," Dustin replied.
"Rick won't be surprised," I chuckled. "He was in the class where I posed with Alexa."
"It is impressive," Costas smirked. "The gallery, I mean."
"SURE!" Trevor chuckled. "THAT is what you meant!"
"That's Affirmed!" Violet tittered.
Costas, Dustin, and Rick laughed, but the reference totally missed me and others.
"Huh?" I asked in response to the laughter.
"Affirmed won the horse racing Triple Crown in '78," Costas explained. "Secretariat, the horse everyone remembers, wouldn't work for the joke!"
"And that's enough talk about that subject!" I said with a grin. "The first Bears regular-season game is September 2nd, and we'll start having our Sunday gatherings. I have tickets for a pair of games — August 18th against the Bengals, which is pre-season, and November 4th against the Raiders. Someone will host for the Raiders game. All of you are welcome, and we'll invite most of the same people who attended in the past, including Jack and Kristy."
"That sounds good," Archie said. "I don't think we can grill burgers and brats, though."
"Unfortunately, there's no balcony, but I have several grilling pans. We've used them for steaks, and they work pretty well, so they'll work OK for burgers and brats. Jack is willing to host, but I'd really rather have the gatherings here."
"It's more about the company than the grill," Dustin observed. "I'm good with being here."
The others all agreed, and I excused myself to check on dinner, which was a roast, along with baked potatoes, corn on the cob, salad, and biscuits. We'd pre-made the salad, so really it was just ensuring that the roast didn't overcook, something I did by regularly checking the internal temperature. Violet helped me with the final prep, and about fifteen minutes after CeCi and Deanna arrived home, everyone sat down to eat.
"How is your photography business, Dustin?" CeCi asked after we began eating.
"It keeps me busy and pays the bills, and I enjoy it. I need a patron like Deanna has!"
"You can't offer what she can!" Costas teased.
"Oh, sure, I can," Dustin chuckled. "But it won't do any good!"
"You clowns do know that's not a quid pro quo, right?" Deanna asked.
"Jonathan would never agree to make it one," Violet interjected. "I mean, he won't turn down an offer of pussy, but he's not going to make it contingent on anything except orgasms!"
Everyone laughed.
"Who are you and what have you done with Violet?" Costas asked.
Violet laughed, "Didn't Lily tell you I emerged from my cocoon?"
"No, but then again, I wouldn't have expected her to."
"Violet will be my date for Friday nights once Taya goes back to Princeton in about a month."
"Getting the convo back on track," CeCi said with a silly smile, "where do you make your money, if you don't mind me asking?"
"I don't mind," Dustin replied. "Weddings, especially big ones, pay lucratively, but usually tie up an entire weekend with the rehearsal, wedding, and reception. That's why Jonathan set the dinner for today at 6:00pm, so that I could finish a wedding at the Russian church in Des Plaines."
"No reception?" Nicole asked.
"It was at the church, in their hall, immediately following the service. There was a smaller, more intimate reception this evening, but they didn't need a photographer for that. That's actually pretty typical for that Russian church."
"Did Beth Schoenburg get in touch with you?"
"Her mother did. I have that gig. Thanks for the referral! Jewish weddings, when they go all out, are probably the most lucrative of all because it seems every relative wants professional photos taken of their family. They all want to buy a wedding album, too, and those have a fantastic profit margin."
"Mind if I ask?" I inquired.
"I'll clear about $2,500 after expenses, not counting the albums. That's about double a typical Christian wedding. Secular weddings are the least lucrative because there aren't rehearsal or church photos. I usually don't even take Carla on those, because if I did, it would basically mean I was more or less breaking even. I pretty much only take those gigs if there's no chance I'll have anything else."
"What about the magazine spreads?" I asked.
"Those are rare. Most of my work besides weddings is family portraits. CeCi, do you think you might be able to fill in for Carla in January or February? She's pregnant and is due sometime in January. It would mostly be on weekends, but possibly some weeknights."
"I'd love the experience," CeCi said, "but it would conflict with my hours at Venice Café."
"I think I can give you enough hours to cover what you make at Venice," Dustin said. "I know it's only for two months, but then again, Carla might not come back."
"You should, CeCi," I said. "It would look good on your résumé. I'm sure something could be worked out with Venice."
"Sure, Dustin," CeCi said. "I'm in."
"That's great!"
"Dustin, not yours, I assume?" Bianca inquired.
"I may be gay, but even I know you don't stick your dick in crazy! I'm pretty sure it was a one-night stand with a guy at a wedding back in April, and alcohol was definitely involved."
"That sounds like a very good reason for an abortion," I suggested.
"I made that suggestion," Dustin said. "She's Roman Catholic and buys into it, so no dice."
"Religion has caused more stupid decisions than anything I can think of," I said. "Communism holds the record for ideological deaths, but in most cases, the Communists behave rationally, even if we disagree with their premises and their conclusions."
"You think the Soviets are rational?" Trevor asked.
"We're still here," I replied. "If they were crazy or irrational, the Cuban Missile Crisis would have led directly to a nuclear exchange. Fortunately, Reagan is rational, too, and KAL 007 didn't lead to the end of the world, even though it easily could have. I'm not arguing, by the way, that the results of Soviet rationality are good, just that they aren't interested in destroying the world any more than we are. Their policies make sense, even if you disagree with them; you can't say the same for religion."
"Amen!" Rick declared, causing the rest of us to laugh.
Everyone enjoyed the meal, and after dinner, CeCi and Deanna volunteered to clean up. I served everyone a drink, and we had a good time chatting until the Boys and Violet left around 8:00pm. I spent the next hour on homework, then spent some time with Sofía before CeCi and I went to bed. As had become the pattern, Misty padded up the stairs after us and came into the bedroom.
"I want you to get the experience on your résumé," I said as we got into bed. "From this point on, I won't charge you any room or board. That way, you don't have to work a regular job."
"You're sure about that?"
"Positive! When you eventually move to California, I'll stake you so you can have a nice place to live."
"So long as you promise to come visit me in California!"
"You can count on it!"
"Then I think it's time for the leggy blonde to wrap her legs around you! Neck first, then waist?"
"Works for me!"
July 16, 1984, Chicago, Illinois
On Monday morning, after showering with CeCi and having breakfast with Bianca and Sofía, I headed to the office, where I found my quarterly earnings statement on my desk, sealed in an envelope. I made a pot of coffee, checked with Rich on the Asian and European markets, and he had news I'd been expecting.
"The currency markets in New Zealand closed last night, their time," Rich said. "There's some kind of constitutional crisis between the outgoing government and the incoming one. There were denials of devaluation, but the foreign markets sure don't believe them."
"How bad?"
"I'd estimate 20%, roughly, based on what I'm seeing."
"When?"
"Tomorrow or Wednesday; I'd put my money on tomorrow. They can't fight the entire world."
"As soon as they devalue, I'd like you to cover my short position. I'll be asleep!"
"I'll take care of it!"
I thanked him, then returned to my desk to review the earnings statement. It was in line with what I'd expected and indicated that my earnings for the year, excluding my bonus and carried interest, would be very close to $400,000, even if I brought in no more capital for the rest of the year.
I didn't have much time available to raise capital, given I was a one-man band, but I had committed to Noel Spurgeon to run the Research Department for two years, which would take me to September '85, about thirteen months in the future. Given my income, I wasn't sure I'd transition even then, though I would have plenty of time to think it over, as Noel Spurgeon would certainly allow me to remain Head of Research if I chose to do so.
I locked the statement in a desk drawer, filled my coffee cup, and got to work. When I finished an hour later, I called Bianca into my office. She came in and shut the door.
"Are you happy with your quarterly numbers?" she asked
"Yes. I plan to call to order the pool table this afternoon, as well as order a safe. Once we have that, I'm going to set up a regular monthly purchase of gold and silver coins as an emergency resource."
"One nobody can touch or interfere with, right?"
"Exactly. I'll also start keeping more cash at home as well."
"Because if, for any reason, you can't access a bank, you want to have resources available. Bail money?"
I chuckled, "I mean, yes, but the goal is to never need it for that!"
"Obviously!"
"Anyway, that wasn't why I called you in. I'd like you to start running analysis on the Wilshire 5000."
"Looking for?"
"Right now, just to establish the baseline. I'd also like to see comparisons with the Dow, S&P, Nikkei, gold, silver, and interest rates. Eventually, I want to identify improper valuations, either high or low, where we might act. If Volcker loosens as we expect him to, the market is going to break out, and I want to be positioned so that Spurgeon can take advantage of that, as well as make my own moves."
"We can do that pretty easily. I can load the past five years of daily closing numbers to give us a solid base of data."
"Sounds good. I take it the trading simulations are running?"
"Yes. So far, everything looks good, but Steve is checking the debugging logs each day to make sure we don't have any errors, and he hand checks a few random items each day as well."
"Excellent. I'm going to owe Noel Spurgeon a budget on the last day of September. Figure out what new toys you want and if it's time to hire another data analyst."
"We're at a point where a second Sun workstation makes sense, given the simulations and other analyses we're running, and we do have a backlog of work."
"Decide what you need, get me a rough estimate of cost, and write up a justification for the new data analyst."
"Are you going to hire additional analysts?"
"No. The team is working well and producing excellent reports. We have plenty of coverage for vacations and sick time, and, honestly, the future is with the computer geeks."
"I'll have it to you by the end of next week, if that's OK."
"It is, given I won't have to submit it until the last week of September."
"Then I'll get back to work."
She left, and I began revising my projections for the main currencies we traded — dollars, yen, pounds, marks, and francs. The key for each currency was the relationship of central bank interest rate targets, trade surpluses or deficits, budget deficit percentage, total currency in circulation, total outstanding government debt, and projected inflation.
It was complicated, but I had an excellent spreadsheet Steve Smith had created for me that allowed me to explore different scenarios and produce a wide range of projections. Once I'd determined the inputs I wanted to use, I'd pass them on to Steve, who would feed them into his currency simulator, which would spit out multiple scenarios for me to evaluate and finally synthesize into something that could be included in the final analyst report for July.
Working on that took me to lunch, and instead of eating with Bianca and Violet, I went to the condo so I could place the calls to order the pool table and safe. The pool table was the easiest, as I knew exactly what I wanted from the discussions I'd had with Natasha. I made arrangements to have it delivered on July 24th, along with a selection of cues, racks, balls, and two hanging lamps. That accomplished, I placed a call to order a safe for the condo.
There were a number of decisions to make, starting with the size, and in the end, I bought one that was about thirty-six inches wide, high, and deep, and was fireproof. After further discussion, I arranged for the safe to be delivered and anchored to the floor. One question by the salesman triggered a third call — to Alarm Detection Systems to have an alarm system installed at the condo.
I had a lengthy conversation with the sales advisor, which meant I missed going to the gym with Bianca and Violet, but they knew I might miss, so that wasn't a big deal. In the end, I opted for a door sensor and a trio of motion sensors, judging that if someone came in through a window on the 91st or 92nd floor, they would be sophisticated enough to defeat any alarm system. I was able to arrange for the installation on the same day as the safe — July 30th.
Because I missed the gym, and because Sofía was awake, I stayed in the condo to spend time with her.
"Can I ask you a question about something that confuses me, and I haven't been able to figure out?" Chelsea asked.
I had a sneaking suspicion of what it was, and if I was right, then Bianca's comment about planting an idea might be correct. That said, following through on that thought would be a very bad idea on my part.
"You're always free to ask a question; the choice to answer or not is up to me."
"Why do you answer that way instead of just saying 'yes' or 'no'?"
"Because, logically, when someone asks if they can ask a question, they're really asking if someone will answer a question, so if I were to say 'yes', you would believe I was going to answer. On the other hand, answering 'no' would be inconsistent with my belief in being direct."
"Do you analyze everything that way?"
"Yes. Ask your question, please."
"When we were talking about respect, you said you don't think there is anything wrong with casual sex or sex outside of marriage, but that it would be wrong with me, not that I would ever do such a thing."
"You just answered your own question. Because I know you believe sex is reserved for marriage, and that you should only ever be with one man — your husband — for life, it would be wrong for me to even ask you; not because of me, but because of you. I respect your beliefs, even if I don't agree with them. And that is exactly my point — I respect your beliefs and your choices, and I ask you to respect my beliefs and my choices. If we both do that, there won't ever be a problem."
"But some things are just wrong!" Chelsea protested.
"Anything that harms someone else is wrong, but 'harm' is defined by the individual, not anyone else. Consider the difference between me punching someone in the face on the street versus in a boxing ring. One of those is wrong behavior; the other is correct behavior. Or, to be vulgar, consider two people having consensual sex versus rape. Again, one is correct behavior, and the other is wrong. Ultimately, you don't get to decide for me what I do, just as I don't get to decide for you what you do.