Chapter 167

General Whitworth had gone to see Lieutenant Mayfield. Whitworth's wives, Ellen and Barbara, were with Diana. Art was sitting in a recliner near the window of the living room as he tried to calm his nerves, but was quickly run out of there by a group of wives and Selina, all of whom were intent on cleaning and setting up the living room for the wedding tonight.

As Art stepped out into the hallway, he met Jeff, along with Dave and Evie. The two project managers had just returned from their meeting with Mr. Jackson.

Jeff turned into the living room and stopped. "Oops, not in here. Let's go to your apartment."

As Art started to turn away, Jeff grabbed the young agent's shoulder. Carefully keeping a straight face and conjuring up a mournful tone, "Come on with us. You need to keep occupied until it's time for you to dress for your execution."

Dave chuckled, but Evie mock-glared at the Prime. Turning to smile at Art, "Don't let these two get you more upset than you obviously already are. Regardless of their teasing, they both know this will be the best thing that's ever happened to you."

Art smiled back at her. "I know that, and I realize that everyone is just kidding me about the wedding, but I can't seem to sit still. I don't know how long I'm even going to have a job. How can I be of any use to the FBI when all I can do is hide? We're stuck here sponging off Diana, Jeff and his family..."

Jeff put his hand back on Art's shoulder, briefly squeezing to fully attract his attention. "That's enough of that bullshit. You are not 'sponging' off anyone. When the time comes, we'll figure out something for you to do. Right now, you're still employed by the FBI, and you've just sent them some very, very valuable information on two criminals who need to be taken down. For now, you need to forget about the FBI, or anything else that's bothering you, and think about those two fine women you're going to marry in a very few hours..."

Art was shaking his head. "That's supposed to calm me down? My usefulness to the agency is going to be short-lived at best. When that's over, how am I going to support us? Sandra and Bobby can't be nurses anymore. The slavers would trace them as soon as they applied to have their nursing licenses transferred. This isn't like someone who is put in a witness protection program to get away from a few bad boys who want to keep the person from testifying. This group has obviously infiltrated the FBI, and no telling how many other law enforcement organizations.

"In addition, I can't just be set up with another job somewhere. Even if the FBI has the US Marshals provide me with a new identity and job instead of having the FBI do it themselves, who's to say the Marshals haven't been infiltrated, too? No matter what happens, I would just be waiting for a security camera to pick me up and have some facial recognition program hit on me. I can't risk Sandra's and Bobby's lives like that. They've almost died because of me, already."

Startling Art, Evie pulled him into a hug, then kissed his cheek. "Let's go to our apartment. I have a fudge cake that's to die for. We need to talk to Jeff, but he always shares everything with his Alphas — right Jeff?" she confirmed as she glanced at the Prime for a second.

"I don't have any secrets from any of you. These two," he continued as he nodded to Dave and Evie, "have just had a meeting about buying the steel erection company that Jeremy, Connie and Denise work for. So Evie is right. Come on, let's go eat some of that cake, and maybe drink a glass of milk with it. I always like milk with fudge cake. Maybe hearing what they've been up to will take your mind off things for a while."

"It still sounds like personal bus..." Art started to protest, but Evie hooked her arm in his and gave him a yank, starting down the hall and causing him to laugh as he let the petite woman drag him along. In a few steps, he was trying to answer her questions about the two women he loved with all his heart.

A few minutes later, they sat at Evie and Dave's kitchen table. Art managed a smile as Evie put a big dollop of vanilla ice cream on top of his fudge cake she had just heated in the microwave.

Although everyone had chosen to drink milk with the fudge cake, Evie had also started a pot of coffee, knowing that Jeff and her husband would expect coffee afterward.

The cake and ice cream had been eaten, the milk had been drunk, and the four now sat around the table with coffee in front of them. Art, with the comraderie of the others, was more relaxed than he had been all day, but Dave and Evie had not yet discussed any business.

"So tell me about it. What do you think?" Jeff asked, after taking his first sip of hot coffee and sitting back in his chair.

"We stopped by and asked Fred to go with us," Evie offered.

Jeff took a half second to reason why. "His talent for sensing a lie, right?"

"Yep," Dave said. "It was Evie's idea. You told us we needed to get this done because of what was going on both with the company and with Jeremy and his women. No use having meeting after meeting and winding up haggling over price when there's an easier way. Besides, Mr. Jackson's wife had been extremely adamant on the phone about not stressing her husband."

Evie broke in with, "Mrs. Jackson met us at the door and firmly, but politely, gave us another short lecture on the need to avoid upsetting her husband. Not that I blame her. He's only days out of the hospital after major heart surgery. Whatever was wrong with his heart, the doctors couldn't put a stent in, but had to operate, instead. He seems reasonably okay, considering the circumstances, but apparently his doctor stressed that he should not be upset about anything."

Dave chuckled. "That little wife of his reminds me of a badger. Oh, not her looks; she's a nice looking lady, but to say she is protective of her husband is far from being descriptive enough. But anyway, she invited us into her living room after her mini lecture about not upsetting her husband."

"What did she say about bringing Fred? I know she was only expecting the two of you."

"Oh, Fred could charm a pissed-off rattlesnake," Evie said with a little giggle. "He had her smiling before we had been there two minutes. As soon as introductions were over and we were seated in their living room, she brought us coffee, her poor husband having to drink decaf."

"So, what about the price?"

Evie continued, "Well within the bounds you gave us. After looking through their financial records, we stepped out of the room for a short conference. Fred gave us his guestimate of the lowest figure they would take based on the discussion we just had, and it was much less than what seems fair, but much more than they were offered by their competition."

Dave took over with, "Keeping in mind what you had said about making sure we offered a fair price, and to get the offer out before they gave up and accepted what the other company proposed, we made them an offer that is well above what Fred thought was the minimum they would take. They had already told us what their competitor had offered, so we knew we were well above that. They left to have a short conference, then came back into the living room and accepted our offer. I wrote Mr. Jackson a check for earnest money, pending the positive outcome of an audit of the business." As Jeff started to say something, Dave motioned with his hand and quickly went on, "We arranged for the accountant and his assistant to be at the company offices this afternoon when they normally close. Mr. Jackson's wife arranged for the office manager and her assistant to be there to assist the accountant in any way they can. They'll remain there until our accountant has completed the preliminary audit.

"Fred had already told us that Mr. Jackson and his wife hadn't lied about anything they said, and they claimed that their books are an accurate reflection of the company's worth. The accountant said he would know by tomorrow. We have a meeting set tentatively for two tomorrow afternoon here at the Retreat with both attorneys, theirs and ours, and our accountant — providing, of course, that the accountant is satisfied with their books and the information they gave us is accurate. You said to expedite it, and we did."

Jeff smiled, realizing yet again that having made Dave and Evie his project managers was continuing to relieve him of a lot of stress and hassle. "Sounds like we're shortly going to own a steel erection company. So who is going to run it?"

Dave and Evie looked at each other for a moment before Dave answered, "Mr. Jackson and his wife both suggested Lee, the guy who is running the company while Mr. Jackson is off. Actually, they practically begged us to let Lee have the job. Apparently, Jackson was planning to turn the operation over to Lee when he (Jackson) retired in a couple of years."

Jeff put his cup down after draining the last of it. "Jeremy already said he thinks Lee would be a good choice, although, they'll miss him as a crew boss. Jeremy says that Mr. Jackson has been training Lee whenever Jackson has had the time. Far as I'm concerned, 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it.' We'll keep Lee as boss, if he wants the job. The next thing we'll do, if the buy comes about, is to let Jeremy, Connie and Denise off Thursday and Friday, and set up some vacation for them after that. Paid, of course."

"They're going to shit when they find out," Dave commented with a grin.

The television interrupted with, "HELICOPTER COMMANDED BY CAPTAIN MADISON APPROACHING FROM THE NORTH."

"Thanks," Jeff said as the AI shut the TV off. Then to the others, "Gonna be interesting to find out what's happening in Midville."

Arlene and Ann, each in an SUV, rolled to a stop well back from the helicopter. When the rotors stopped, the girls backed their vehicles close by, popped the back hatches and exited to stand waiting, scrunched together in the cold wind, shivering. Ann, trying to distract herself from thinking about the cold, said, "We got out of cleaning and setting up the living room for the first wedding — at least for a little while, but I didn't expect the wind to be blowing this hard."

Arlene chuckled. "With Bill and Frank, we have two more men to help with setting up the seating. Can you believe we're going to have weddings all this week? The honeymoon suite is going to get a workout. Wouldn't you just love to be a fly on the wall? It would be like a porn movie, only live."

"Arleeeene," Ann scolded, dragging out her sister-wife's name. "I can't believe you said that."

"Oh, I would never really do it. But I'll bet Connie and Denise are going to wear Jeremy out."

Frank stepped out of the helicopter and offered an arm to the women as they began to exit. "That isn't until Friday," Ann said. "Art, Sandra and Bobby are for tonight, and I'll bet Art is going to hold his own. What'cha wanna bet Sandra and Bobby will be walking very gingerly when they come to breakfast tomorrow morning?"

"Didn't we all after our own wedding night?" Arlene giggled as she reached for the luggage Bill and Reed had begun setting out of the copter.

Art had been temporarily moved to another suite so he wouldn't see his brides before they came down the aisle. The two nurses now sat in the sitting room of their suite. "Should I make another pot of coffee?" Sandra asked her sister.

Bobby was shaking her head. "No way. We've already drunk a pot between the two of us, plus what we had at breakfast, then the two diet drinks. If we keep on like we've been doing, I'm afraid I'll have to pee halfway through the ceremony. We need to curb what we drink for the rest of the day."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I suppose we have to do something with our hands, so we just keep drinking stuff. Diana said that Art was more nervous than we are. I hate to think of how nervous he is, if he's worse than I am. We'll make sure we go to the bathroom just before the wedding starts. Wedding. Oh, crap, I swear my heart just skipped a beat. I can't believe we're getting married. Everything has happened so fast."

Bobby turned to look fully at her sister. "Don't tell me you're getting cold feet..."

Sandra shook her head. "No, of course not. Absolutely not. But it seems like only yesterday that we were doing everything we could to keep Art from dying. Now, we're marrying him. Both of us, just like we dreamed when we were teenagers."

Bobby frowned, the crease in her forehead evident as she worried. "Are you sorry we let that idiot take our cherries? I wonder what Art really thinks about that. I told him that I wished I had waited for him to deflower me, but he just laughed and said he was glad there wouldn't be any blood on the bed tonight, and he wouldn't have to hurt us."

Sandra let out a little sigh. "I heard you ask him. And I guess I'm glad I don't have to worry about a hymen, but I'm still worried about his ... cock fitting inside me."

"Oh, come on. You're a nurse. You know it will fit."

"Yeah, but it's way bigger than the only one we've had. It could still be uncomfortable the first few times," Sandra said.

"Well, I'm not worrying about that. I just hope he'll like what we have to offer. But he surely seemed to like the blowjobs we've given him."

"He says he's not very experienced. I guess we'll all just learn together."

There was a knock on Art's door. When he got up to answer it, Diana and Laura were standing there smiling at him. "Still nervous?" Diana asked as he held the door open for them to enter.