Chapter 56

I had another lecture to give, and then largely spent the day wandering the floor. When it was time for lunch, Eileen found me as I was heading towards the buffet and I invited her to join me. We sat and talked, and she said that they had sold out of everything in the back of the truck and were heading back to Las Vegas after lunch. It was a bit of a drive for leaving so late, but they would also gain an hour going back to Pacific time, so should be there by 8 that night.

We were holding hands and walking back towards the convention area when she grinned and pulled me into one of the rooms set aside for private games. Once inside she locked the door, then we were kissing as she slowly pushed me further into the room. And one of her hands grasped a chair, then she moved back and grinned at me and sat down in it. Looking up into my eyes she said she wished that we had another night together, but her boss had left them instructions to return when the last of their items sold. “I managed to put it off until after lunch, and I am about to finish my lunch before I go.” As she was saying that, Eileen was opening my buckle. And as soon as the hook in my slacks was opened she reached and pulled them and my underwear down to the middle of my thighs. She then sat in the chair and her hands on my hips pulled me closer. I watched her lick her lips, and in a low breathy voice she whispered that she had been dreaming of doing this for years. I watched her open her mouth, and take me inside.

I reached down and ran my fingers through her red hair, as I felt her lips slowly working their way down my shaft. I could feel her tongue caressing the underside of my shaft, so soft and wet, then she started to bob her head. I moaned, and saw her look up and our eyes met. This was obviously not the first time she had done that, and it was almost lovingly how she was doing it, almost worshipful. She gave a moan, and the vibrations felt lovely. She continued for a few minutes, then pulled back. Her hand immediately grasped me and stroked my cock as I bent down and gave her as hot of a kiss as I could. We moaned into each other’s mouths, and she pulled back, whispering we only had a few minutes. Then she took me back into her mouth.

Her head was bobbing even faster, her lips firm around my cock, her tongue pressing against the underside. I moaned, and whispered it would not take long at this pace, and she moaned again and pushed all the way down, swallowing as she took me into her throat. Fuck, oh fuck she was good!

I moaned low and deep, and was not trying to hold back. If this amazing and stunning woman wanted this, I was going to give it to her. Just as the throbbing started I groaned for her to look up. And as my cum started spurting I was looking into her eye. They opened wide, then into slits as she slid back so just the head of my cock was inside of her mouth. And spurt after spurt went into her mouth, Eileen accepting and swallowing each of them as I gave them to her. Finally I finished, and she moved her head back down, her lips firm around my cock and her tongue working the underside as she worked the last of the cum still inside. And with a huge grin she pulled back, giving the tip of my cock a soft kiss. I saw her swallow a few more times, then use the back of her hand to wipe her lips. I got down onto my knees, the cold tile under my knees as I kissed her deeply, our arms wrapping around each other as I held her tight against me.

Finally we pulled apart. And when I stood and reached down for my pants, she beat me to it. Pulling them up and just as carefully as she opened my slacks she got them closed again. Then she stood and we shared a last long kiss. I was just reaching for the door when I heard it make a noise. Eileen giggled softly as I opened it, and I saw four kids standing outside. “I’m sorry, is this room three? We had it reserved for this time.”

“Oh yes, this is room three,” I quickly said. “We were just having a fast meeting, it’s all yours now. Enjoy your game.” They watched us leave and Eileen giggled the entire time. “Well, good thing they did not arrive five minutes earlier. But at least I got to finish my lunch first.” I wrapped my arm around her waist, and she sighed and leaned against me. I let her guide me to the back door, then gave me a last long kiss before I watched her slip out and walk to her truck.

I smiled, and went back into the convention. Things were starting to wind down now, so I went ahead and headed back home. I gave Mandy a call to confirm dinner the next night, but she told me that she was not going to make it, something else had come up. I sighed as she hung up, and I had a feeling that the something was her boyfriend. I went ahead and called Sakura, and told her it would be just the two of us tomorrow night. She said that was fine, and that I should meet at her club at 7.

Since I had nothing else to do, I decided to get an early start. I went around and said goodbye to everybody, and was soon heading west. It was after 1 in the morning when I pulled into Sacramento, and I got a hotel for the night. And I decided this time to change my usual route. I checked the map as I had breakfast, and went ahead and drove to San Jose. One of the places had forty rack mount servers, so I grabbed all of them and three racks. The next had twenty cases of Geos, and I grabbed all of those. Along with five cases of Print Shop, that was always a popular product. At Weird Stuff the manager smiled when I came in, and he took me to the back where a large canvas laundry cart like I would see in a hotel was in the corner, and full of software. All of it new and still wrapped, and everything from DOS 3 and Windows 2 to games for the Commodore 64. It was kind of a mixed bag, and there were hundreds of them in there. I asked him how much, and he said $400. I did a fast estimate, and even if we only sold them for $1 each we would make something.

“OK, I’ll take it, but you have to box it all up.” He laughed, and told me that included the cart. Great, I had no idea what the hell I would do with a laundry cart, but I lowered the ramp and 2 guys helped me push it up into the truck. Along with ten cases of brand new 9600 modems I got for a good price.

I was taking a last look, when something in the back corner caught my eye. That was where they always had the new empty cases set up, and one caught my eye. It was beige, but it was the same as the cases I had designed for Gem. I looked it over, and sure enough, it even had the same imprint on the inside of one of the doors, a raised “GL” that we had placed there, for “Grace Littlebuck”.

I had done that as a lark, figuring in later years I could show that to Grace, so she would know that she was inside of each of those computers we sold. And I figured in the future I would also do a CL and GC for Conner and George. Then I started to see red, this was supposed to be our exclusive design.

I bought one, and it was from a company I had never heard of before in the Inglewood area. I drove a few blocks and got lunch, then called George. I asked him to go through the paperwork with our case manufacturer again, and ensure that we were supposed to have exclusive rights on that case design. He went through the paperwork, and said indeed the copyright was ours, and that we had received no royalties nor given anybody else permission.

“Well, I just bought one. Complete with that ‘GL’ I had put inside. OK, I’m going to do some digging around, but check out ‘InPact Systems’ in Inglewood. That is the name on the box, I am wondering if we have some industrial espionage on our hands.”

“It’s likely, especially if you found the same imprint in the door. No, every case with that front is supposed to be sold only to us, you paid them a premium for that right. And they never contacted me about runs for other companies, I would have told you if they had, Pete.”

I told him to start considering options, I had some more calls to make. I was soon on the phone with Jeff and Morgan, and they were surprised also. I gave them the information, and told them that I might be severing our agreement and need to find a new manufacturer. They both understood, Jeff was especially upset by this. Gem was finally taking off, and our “Just In Time” inventory system relied upon a steady flow when needed. Finding a new supplier could be a disaster, and might even force him to use more generic cases. Shit, we could not even do that! We had the back specially designed for our custom motherboards, we could not move to a generic case even if we wanted to!

I heard Morgan call for Harry, and soon he was on also. Morgan asked Harry if he still maintained his company profile. Harry admitted he did, and that he still did some jobs on the side. “But nothing that interferes with Gem at all, honest. Mostly old friends, little things with people who had been coming to me for years already. I promise, I am not taking anything or anybody from the company, Jeff!”

I told him to calm down, and we all agreed that was perfectly fine. Morgan asked him to look up the information for InPact Systems, and order some cases from them. Once he realized what this was about, Harry actually laughed and said he would be glad to. And he had a cousin in Boise that he would send them to so they would not connect the purchase back to us. And Morgan said he might have a few leads on other companies for us to look into.

“Now one is a small machine shop in American Falls. They are having some financial problems now, they used to do components for HP in Boise before they moved it all in-house. But they have the plastic and metal working experience, I bet within two months we can have them change over to supplying us with cases.” I talked with Jeff, and we both agreed that was the best way to go.

“Plus it puts them close to us, we can just run and pick them up ourselves instead of the delay in shipping. And any QAQC issues can be resolved by visiting them, not phone calls. I like it, I say we do this, Pete.”

I agreed with Jeff, and told him that since we only had three more months on the current contract anyways, to go ahead and get going on it. Morgan said he and Harry already had some ideas on some revisions to the case. “Nope, I say let’s consider that case design dead. I have a feeling that it is soon going to be tied up in court, and that may become a problem. No, design an entirely new case. Keep it a tower, and continue with that blue and black. In fact, if we do this go ahead and offer them yourselves in blue or black. I never made any promise to Becky that blue was exclusive to her, that was mostly to make it easier as I would always pick those up myself. But make this case something new. And keep track of any costs including hours spent in doing that, I have a feeling that will come in handy in estimating damages.”

Once we finished I called George again, and told him what we were doing. He agreed with that approach, and then asked me why I did not just go ahead and build them myself. We talked about that for another twenty minutes, and I told him to expect a call from Jeff in a few days. Then another call to Jeff. And soon Morgan was on the phone also.

“OK, you said they have been having money problems, right? Do you think they can meet our demands, Morgan?”

“Well, I’m not sure. I was thinking that we might have to provide them with an advance in order to do that, though. Do you not want to do that, Pete?” I told them to get Dee on the line, and soon it was five of us as Kim joined in also. And in under an hour we had a plan.

Morgan would go to see them the next day, and give them our requirements as well as give them a look them over and see if they could meet our demand. And if they could not, offer to buy out part ownership of the company. “Just look into maybe 25%. In that way, we also have a line on that aspect, and can keep an eye on leaks like this in the future. And once they get fully ramped up, maybe we can help them expand into making cases for others.”

Dee gave them a working limit of $500,000. “Now remember, this is an investment, not a gift! But we can afford to put that much money in, but let them propose the percentage of ownership they are willing to give us and for how much. And no matter how good it sounds, remember that it still has to go through the board.”

Jeff and I assigned Dee and Morgan to take point on that, and soon I was back in the truck and driving into San Francisco. This time I got a hotel on the edge of Japan Town, and after backing the truck right against a brick wall to make sure nobody broke into the back I was inside and relaxing on the bed after a shower watching the news.

The only bummer about this is that this was a company that Norm had suggested. It was also the same company that made the cases that the company that made the DigiBoard cases worked with. This was going to be a mess no matter what.

Finally I got dressed, black slacks and a dark blue button down shirt. It was only a mile to the club, so I went ahead and walked there. I walked in, and the Mamasan smiled at me and pointed to the back. I bowed my head to her and softly said “Domo arigato”, and she bowed her head in return. And I walked towards the back of the club, and saw Sakura there, sitting next to a rather good looking guy. She saw me and got up and came to give me a big hug, then when she brought me back to the table the guy stood up and we shook hands. He introduced himself as Ken. And he was several inches smaller than I was, but actually had a build about like I had at around 16. Not as muscular as I had become since joining the Marines, and he felt no need for silly strength games.

Saki said she would be right back, and Ken and I talked. He said he was glad to meet me, as he had heard about me before. This surprised me a bit. But apparently he had gone out on dates with Mandy and her boyfriend also, so had heard about me from both of them. And when Sakura returned, we both stood again and I saw who was to be my date that evening.

Aurora was a small girl, and if I had not known better I would actually think she was around 16. Except her shape was unquestionably fully formed. Small breasts, small hips and bottom, but having the curves and shape of a mature woman, even if in the package if a younger girl. She smiled and said she was glad to meet me as she sat next to me, and soon we were all talking. We each had a drink, then Ken suggested dinner.

We went to a place about a block away, and we all decided on a large tempura platter. We chatted as we waited, and I learned that Aurora was a student at a nursing school. She admitted to me that her studies left her little time or money for dating. So when she heard that the club was hiring, she took the job and was relatively happy about it.

“So you see it as a substitute for dating, like Saki did?”

“Yes, pretty much. It is a nice way to meet guys, in a safe environment where I know if they get out of line, somebody is there to protect me. And in the last two months I have met some nice guys, even if none I would actually date. Not many girls get as lucky as Saki there.”

I asked Ken what he thought of Saki working there, and he smiled and said he was fine with it. “All she does is sit and talk with them. I know she still flirts with them a little, things like holding their hand or allowing them to rest their hand on her thigh. But she told me she does nothing else, and I trust and believe her. Just as with my partner. I’m an amateur skater, and my partner and I do things that may seem intimate on the rink, even kissing sometimes at the end of a routine. But Saki knows it is the same. Even if I have my hands on her bottom, it is only skating.”

I mentioned that I knew several skaters, and that Mandy was one of them and he laughed. “Oh, we actually talk about that a lot. We even all went out together once, but she’s almost helpless on ice. You see, I’m not a roller skater like she is, I’m an ice skater. But there are a lot of similarities between the two.”

Saki laughed, and said they get together about every other week. And whenever he and Mandy got together, they almost only talked about skating. I nodded, and said I had seen many of her performances, and before she moved out of her home she had a wall covered with awards she had gotten skating.

The food was quite good, and Aurora was leaning against me through most of it. I learned she was actually 22, and she had moved here with her parents when she was 2 years old. Which accounted for her slight accent, but almost flawless English.

When we finished, we spent about 45 minutes walking around Japantown, each of us guys with our arms around the waist of our date. And feeling my hand on her slender but well formed hip, I realized that Sakura had been absolutely right, Aurora was indeed “tight”. We went into a small club that was actually in the basement at the corner of a block of stores, and inside they were playing loud Japanese music. Ken paid the cover, and soon we were all on the dance floor and having a good time.

I had a couple of dances with Saki, and it felt nice dancing with her again. She thanked me for agreeing to meet Aurora, and I said it had been my pleasure. After about an hour we left, and went back to the first club. This time we moved right to the dance area, and this time the music was slower, nowhere near as energetic as the first club. And Aurora felt amazing against me. I held her against me, and we swayed slowly almost joined at the hip. At one point she even turned in my arms and reached back behind her, resting her hands in my hair as her bottom moved against my groin, my hands slowly moving up and down her sides.

But we were both doing it lightly, in a teasing and sensual sort of way, neither of us trying for passion. Aurora had already told me she was Catholic, so I had no sense this was sexual in nature at all. Just a young gal enjoying a sexy dance with a guy.

And at just before midnight, we all got ready to depart for the night. And I was indeed right, Aurora did give me a nice soft kiss on the lips for about five seconds, and thanked me for spending the evening with her. I thanked her in return, and actually got a kiss just a bit warmer from Suki before the three of them headed off to their homes, and I walked back to my hotel.

That night in the hotel I made use of the AdultNet IRC chat, and had a rather enjoyable session with Amber in the TorD Unlimited room. She admitted she was still seeing her girlfriend, but as this was simply a form of masturbation, she felt nothing wrong in sharing it with me as I was a friend. We spent several minutes sensually kissing with words before we both logged off and I slipped into bed.

The next day I got home in the early evening, and after a good night sleep headed in to work. And the first thing I did when we started the morning meeting, was I swore them all to secrecy. Then I asked Norm how well he knew his friends who made the cases. He admitted he did not know them all that well, he had simply learned of them because they had worked on projects together in the past. “OK, we have a problem,” I said, then pulled out the case I had stuck under my desk.

Blake whistled softly, and Norm softly said “Oh wow man, bummer.” They both checked it over, and I pointed out to them the “GL” behind the door, and both of them nodded. Norm then pulled out a screwdriver and opened the case, and removed the front. Sure enough, the pieces assembled exactly as they did in ours. He even pulled out a magnifying glass and looked over the letters embedded in the front. “Yeah man, this is your case, no question about it. This is far to clean to be just a copy. See, the letters here are sharp and clean. So clean, it can only be from an original mold and not a copy from our parts. But you can also see the faint change in texture where they removed the ‘Gem’ logo and put in the space for the badge sticker. Like, what you gonna do about it?”

“Well, we are already working that actually, Norm. For the moment, this is only between us and absolutely nobody else. One of the guys in Idaho is contacting InPact to try and buy more of these cases, and my lawyer is looking into moving to a company in Idaho and doing it all in-house. We may even become partners with them, which means we will have more control over them. But right now, we are planning on taking them to court. Either they were sloppy with their access to the molds at best, or at worst they are actively making and selling them behind our back. And as we have an exclusive agreement as this is our case design, that means they owe us, big time.”

Blake nodded, and asked what that would mean for the systems we sell to Becky. “Well, ultimately nothing. Those are now already Gem computers, simply made locally. In fact, she is the only one not directly under our control selling them. But I trust Becky, and I know she has nothing to do with this. We only have three months left on this contract though, and in case they ever ask say we are currently designing a revised case and will present them with a new prototype at a later date. Blake, do you have any techs you trust enough to do a little undercover work for us?”

“Sure, Quentin. He is a Computer Sciences major at CSUN, and only works occasionally. He still does tech work, and I was hoping to bring him in once he graduates. But there is no official connection, other than he is one of around fifty techs that work for us in the field.”

“OK, perfect. Here is the address, it’s InPact Systems, in Inglewood. Have him approach them, saying he is a independent tech who has a proposal for say fifteen systems. He wants photographs of each of their case designs, and if he sees the one based on ours to buy it. Give him $500 from petty cash so he has the money. Jeff is already increasing orders for the next two months on cases, so he will have excess stock of them. It will take about that long to get the new company producing and a new case designed. That should take us between then and the time we drop the lawsuit on them. I hope they were just being sloppy, but I’m finding it hard to believe somebody would be making enough cases for them to sell to another, and nobody in the company would notice that.”

They all agreed, and we then went on to other business. Including the plans in the future of moving the tech support operations next year to Idaho.

About two hours later I was going over some growth projections when Jeff called me. Turns out we now owned 50% of “Intermountain Fabrications and Design”.

“Pete, when we made the proposal to buy our cases from them, Rod actually got nervous. He’s the guy that owns the company. He admitted he could do the work, but did not know if he could meet the demand we needed. Dee asked him how much he would need, and he said $300,000. And man, that is one slick woman your dad married. She asked Rod what the money would be needed for, and he said for supplies, another metal folding table, and a new injection molding press as his could not handle all of the parts we would need. Plus tooling up and more employees. They talked over the time, and we think we can see the first cases by the end of the year. Oh, and when she said we could offer him the money he needed and other financial support, he himself offered us half-ownership. I think Morgan was right, the guy was about to go under. And seeing his business both saved and vastly increased was more than a fair trade to him.”