Chapter 9

Matt watched as Mr. Morris told Gavin Riggs, “Get the hell out of my sight. NOW!!”

Mr. Riggs turned and stormed out, his face still white as a sheet.

Mr. Morris stood up and came around the table to Jan. He gently took her away from David, looked into her face for a moment, and then took her into his arms, again surprising most of the men around the table. He held her carefully and asked David, “Has she seen a doctor?”

Mr. Burton nodded and said, “My neighbor. He’s very good. And he won’t say anything. I told him this would be taken care of.”

Jan raised her face and looked up at Mr. Morris and said, “I’m sorry, Sir. I didn’t want to make any trouble.”

Matt saw tears in Mr. Morris’ eyes. ‘Wow,’ he thought, ‘Morris has a thing for Jan himself. Why am I not surprised, as sweet as she is to everyone?’

Morris turned to the VPs and said, “Gentlemen, as of now, there is no more EPOD.”

That must have sunk in through the fog that seemed to be shrouding Jan’s drugged brain! Because she quickly exclaimed, “No! Wait a minute! Mr. Morris, don’t do that, please. It isn’t perfect. There are some women who don’t like it, maybe even a few men. But some of us like it, a lot. In fact, I’ve been trying to figure out how to ask you to expand it.”

Mr. Morris stepped back and held Jan at arm’s length. He looked at Jan as if she were nuts. “Expand it? What do you mean?”

Jan smiled at Mr. Burton and said, “I’ve only met one of the other VPs’ wives, one of the other Junior VPs’ wives, and none of the Junior VPs. So, of course, I can’t speak for all of the people involved.

“I know that some of them are only in it for the money. But some of us are having a ball. At least one of the Senior VPs’ wives would really like to get back in. It would be nice if you would let them. I’m sorry. I was given some really good drugs a little while ago and I may not be too clear. Don’t just end the program, Mr. Morris. Tweak it.”

Mr. Morris leaned in slowly and kissed Jan’s forehead gently. He stepped back and asked, “Is that the drugs talking?”

Jan smiled and said, “Maybe a little. Damn! Those things are great! But I was going to have this conversation with you anyway. As long as the EPOD program has existed, you’ve had just one major jerk that didn’t play well with others. He’s gone now. Some of us want to play some more.”

Everyone watched Mr. Morris take a deep breath and go back to his seat. He looked around him and saw the hopeful looks on the faces of his VPs.

After a thoughtful pause, he asked, “Would any of you gentlemen like to discuss this matter with your wives and find out if they would like to volunteer to get back into the program?

“There will be no pressure. It will not be a requirement. It will have no effect on your careers. Just let me know by this time next week.”

Mr. Morris told Mr. Burton to have Matt take Jan home. Mr. Morris then told Jan that it might be best if she were not to see her husband, Brad, until Riggs was on a plane.

Everyone nodded, indicating that they all thought that was good thinking on his part.

Matt watched as Jan walked down to the end of the table and kissed Mr. Morris on the cheek. Shocking everyone with what she did next, instead of crying or begging for anything, she actually smiled through what pain might not be totally masked by the actions of the drugs in her system and thanked him for being so sweet.

Then Jan kissed Mr. Burton on the cheek and thanked him. Matt and Jan turned and started to leave by the auxiliary door to the conference room, and headed toward the private hallway. Mr. Burton offered to help Matt get Jan back to the car; but she insisted that she could make it on her own now.

Matt halted and looked back momentarily as Jan stopped at the door and turned around. Then she really surprised everyone by saying, “Gentlemen; pool party at my new palace next Saturday. Wives are invited, but they should know that it will be clothing optional.”

Matt noticed that there were suddenly smiles all around the table as he and Jan left the conference room.

The two of them made their way back down the private hallway. They were just about to pass Mr. Morris’s private entry doorway when the door opened and Heather pulled Jan inside. Matt moved in with them, just in case his help was needed.

Heather said, “Here; you can’t go around town like that.” Then she smiled and said, “At least not until you heal.”

Jan and Matt looked at her, both of them wondering how Heather actually knew so much. She smiled at her own little joke and carefully helped Jan pull the robe off her shoulders. She gasped when she saw Jan’s bruised and tortured body. She was very gentle as she helped her into a loose dress and a pair of sandals.

Heather hugged Jan carefully and said, “It’s a terrible shame that you had to go through all of that. But a lot of people around here are going to be a lot happier now. That man was bad news. Folks were all afraid of him; even the secretaries.”

Jan thanked her and grabbed the robe and slippers that Midge had given her to wear. Heather took them from Jan and motioned to Matt to help Jan out to Mr. Burton’s car, despite Jan’s insistence that she could make it on her own.

Matt started to help Jan into the back, but she figured it would be easier to get in and out of the front seat. He handed her the purse that she had left on the back seat and helped her into the passenger seat with a resigned sigh, and drove her slowly home, avoiding bumps and taking every turn in slow motion. Jan noticed what he was doing and said to him, “You’re so sweet. When I get better, I am so going to fuck you!”

He grinned and said, “I can’t wait, Miss.”

“Jan! I told you before; call me ‘Jan’.”

He smiled and said, “I will, Miss, when it’s appropriate.”

“It’s always appropriate with men that I have sex with.”

In a friendly manner, but with a quiet formality, Matt told her in a voice that hinted more of his western accent than usual because he was a bit tired from all of the excitement, “A time and a place for everything; I love my job. Knowing the right time and the right place helps me keep it. I could not possibly work for a finer couple. I want very much never to do anything that they might find objectionable.

“I get some of the greatest perks in the world. That certainly includes time with Mrs. Burton. I’m not telling any secrets. You already knew that. But there is a lot more to it than that. Mr. Burton is one of the finest men that I have ever met and I love working for him; and this company. I don’t have a problem with addressing people properly. The next time we meet, and you give me that great fuck that you promised, then you will be ‘Jan’. Today, ‘Miss’ works just fine.”

Jan smiled at him and said, “Oh, you’re no fun, you old fuddy-duddy!”

Matt just smiled and said, “You’re home, Miss.”

Jan hadn’t even realized that they had stopped moving!

Matt came around and helped Jan to her door. But he didn’t leave her there. Once she had unlocked the door, he helped her upstairs and even helped her off with the borrowed dress and sandals that Heather had loaned her. He turned down the bed, carefully covered up her naked but badly bruised body, and said, “Get some sleep, Miss. You had a hard night. I look forward to seeing you again soon.” Then, he picked up the borrowed clothing to take back to Heather and left.

As exhausted and drugged as Jan was, she fell asleep so quickly that she never even saw him leave the bedroom.

“You and I need to talk,” Jennifer said quietly to Heather, with firm determination in her voice, “but in private.”

After seeing Matt and Jan leave the building through the private back entrance, Heather had closed and locked the back door to Mr. Morris’ office and turned to look around the office on her way out the front office door. Heather hoped now that she could keep a lid on everything that had happened this morning, or at least control the flow of information in order to protect Mr. Morris and the company. She really loved the old guy, in her own way.

Heather had been glad that she could offer Jan Pittman some clothes to wear home. She had known they were in an unused portion of a closet in Mr. Morris’ office. Given the length of time they had been there, she figured they must have belonged to Mr. Morris’ late wife, now dead for almost a decade.

When she had gotten her professional demeanor back in place and had taken a couple of cleansing breaths, Heather walked back to relieve Jennifer at her station, hoping that the young secretary had not been too disturbed by the minor kerfuffle going on around her, but still with the details hopefully screened from her.

Jennifer’s comment told Heather that things were not simply going to go away with a wave of her hand.

“And the subject of this talk?” Heather said, in her more imperious tone that she used to establish to the listener that she was THE primary administrative support person here.

Jennifer leaned in and put her nose about two inches from Heather’s nose, with a look that said, ‘Don’t try that intimidation stuff with me anymore, Sister.’

“E-Pod,” Jennifer said to her softly, causing Heather’s demeanor to collapse into one more associated to resignation to the inevitable. There were a few seconds of silent stand-off between the two equally-determined women.

“All right,” said Heather, now attempting to regain some of her position in this discussion, “but whatever is said in that little talk must remain just between us; understood?”

Jennifer smiled at the attempt by Heather to regain dominance, but she simply nodded and replied, “Oh, yeah; I think I really am finally beginning to understand, all right.”

“Oh, Jennifer; by the way” Heather began, “If Brad is in his office this morning, it might be best ... uh...”

“I know. Wait until Riggs is on his plane,” Jennifer replied, surprising Heather.

Then she turned and went back to her office just outside of the currently open doorway leading to Brad’s inner office. She looked in and saw her boss just sitting motionless and quiet at this desk with his head propped up in both of his hands with his elbows on the desk.

She quietly left to get herself some coffee in the Sec’s Lounge. When she returned, Jennifer noted that Brad had left his office. She did not have a note from him on the office text app screen on her workstation, so she figured that he had no instructions or information as to his plans that he felt he needed to pass on to her when he had left. She thought she had seen Dennis, Brad’s driver, arriving a few minutes earlier, but that would mean that Brad must have arrived at work today and left by way of his own personal car instead of the limo.

Jennifer offered up a rare prayer for the well-being of her boss and his wife, a young woman who had shown Jennifer so much compassion and caring; and who was, evidently, a favorite among the senior executives of the company in this so-called E-Pod program.

“E-P-O-D is just an acronym. It stands for Executive Pussy on Demand,” Heather said as she and Jennifer walked together later that morning along the outer fence of the J.A.M. compound. To others, it simply appeared that the two women were simply enjoying an afternoon walk in the unusually warm April weather as part of their break time.

Jennifer could not help herself. She laughed out loud and said, “Executive Pussy on Demand? Really? Oh; that title just sounds SO-o-o-o sleazy!”

Heather let the other woman get her laughter under control before continuing. Then she went on to explain what she understood of the details, beginning with a caveat.

“Remember,” Heather said, “what I am telling you is a product of my own synthesis of bits and pieces that I have put together over the years since I have been here. And Mr. Morris and I have never spoken directly about it. So, I may not have 100% of the details of The Program. Okay?” Jennifer simply nodded and remained silent to allow Heather to continue.

“The wives of the junior vice presidents of J.A.M. Aluminum evidently make themselves available at any time for sex on demand to the Senior Vice Presidents, the other company Senior Executives, and the President of the company. From what I can ascertain, this is an incentive program that goes back almost two decades now. Mr. Morris’ father, the founder of J.A.M., took an old friend up on a recommendation for an unusual executive incentive program and started EPOD. And, for the most part, it seems to have worked out well for almost everybody involved, until the past couple of years.” Heather paused to let Jennifer absorb this bit of information.

Jennifer thought about it all for a second and asked, “You mean besides what happened to Jan Pittman?” Seeing that Heather was not responding to her question, Jennifer went on the attack. “So, you are telling me that the Junior VP wives were all happy being used as company whores until a few years ago?”

Heather bristled for a second, and then realized that Jennifer might be trying to goad her into losing her cool and give a more authentic statement of the older woman’s opinion; a good gambit, but not quite enough.

Heather took a deep breath to calm herself and went on to explain the program as she understood it. After all, none of the participants had ever given the Senior Executive Secretary chapter and verse on EPOD, but Heather had her ways of discovering quite a bit of whatever was going on around J.A.M. Aluminum.

Heather explained to Jennifer, “I can’t read their minds, Jennifer. Therefore, I cannot say with any certainty just WHAT exactly any of them thinks about anything ... much less EPOD. But I have been able to detect that a couple of Junior VPs who were chosen in the past couple of years have developed attitudes that indicated they might not be exactly 100% in favor of all that EPOD entails concerning their wives, except for the money and perks.”

Jennifer just rolled her eyes at the logic of that statement and nodded for Heather to continue.

“Evidently, the EPOD wives also participate in the very sexually open parties periodically held by those same Senior Executives. And, quite possibly, they participate – although it appears only to happen rarely – as a sort of ‘sweetening’ incentive during difficult negotiations with important clients.”

Jennifer interrupted, “So, where does all of this action take place – some no-tell motel?”

Heather dipped one eyebrow to show her disapproval at being interrupted and then continued. “Well, from what I can gather, the sexual liaisons conducted as part of EPOD can occur at the Executive office suite at the plant, at a designated off-site location, or even in the home of the wife who was selected, regardless of the presence or absence of her husband when the rendezvous is consummated.”