Chapter 482

The Retreat

Jeff sat in the living room drinking his ever-present coffee while Higgins sipped from a bottle of spring water, obviously uncomfortable, and Jeff suspected that he knew why.

“Look,” the Prime said after both of them had verbally stumbled about trying to find something to discuss, “you need to lighten up. We obviously respect you, since we invited you to join us for supper. We don’t invite just anyone into our home, so let’s get things settled now before we go to the dining room. Dammit, we all know you did everything you could to save Mike’s job. He was just a victim of circumstances and of the upper echelon of your company looking for a scapegoat. To be absolutely frank with you, he now has a higher-paying job with better benefits, so the firing wound up being a good thing for him.

“In addition, he’s just married his girlfriend. We’ve talked to them several times since they left on their honeymoon. As with most honeymoons, they’re having a great time. He’s not pissed at you and no one else is either. Remember, I talked to your bosses. As you well know, they’re a gnat’s hair from having their insurance company drop them, so by firing Mike, they were trying to show that they are taking a hardline toward anyone breaking any of their rules. We all know that was a stretch with Mike, but apparently the insurance company bought it. Right?”

Higgins shifted in his seat. “I would have heard if the insurance company had canceled, because we would all be out of work, I suppose.”

“Good. I’m pleased with the work you have done, and I know that it would not have happened without you. I paid your company extra for a quick job...”

“And we all wound up with a lot of overtime because of it – even me, and I’m on salary. That’s really odd. Oh, I’ve received bonuses before, but never any overtime pay, because I’m a salaried employee.”

Jeff knew where Higgins’ overtime had come from, but just grinned without saying anything in response to Higgins last comment. “All right. That conversation is behind us. Have you heard where you’re going next?”

More relaxed, Higgins crossed his legs and took a sip of water. “Not exactly. There’s a big project going on in Switzerland that we might get a piece of, and there are a couple of smaller ones in the U.S., but I haven’t heard anything definite yet. After all the extra time spent here, the crew from this job will probably have a couple weeks off before we start a new project. A few more months and I won’t give a crap where the next job will be, because I’ll be retired.”

“Are you going to be doing anything else, or...”

A smile broke across Higgins’ face. “First of all, my wife and I are going to do some traveling. After that, I might consider something else to keep me busy.”

Getting up, Jeff walked over to one of the small tables. After searching through a stack of business cards, he closed the drawer and came back to hand Higgins a card before reseating himself. “Frank owns several companies – to understate – and he’s always looking for good people. He knows your name, so if you decide you want to work, give him a call.”

“This is Frank Wainwright, the millionaire?” Higgins asked while looking at the card. At Jeff’s nod, the supervisor went on, “No way is this guy ever going to talk to someone like me.”

Jeff chuckled. “Make that multi-billionaire. But when someone answers, just give them your name and say that Mr. Wainwright is expecting your call. That came straight from him.”

“You know him?” Higgins asked, obviously impressed, even though he knew that Jeff was wealthy.

Jeff grinned at him. “More and more, this is becoming his home. Other than personal meetings and occasional inspections that he can’t get out of, he does a major portion of his work from his office right here in the Retreat. But, he won’t be with us tonight because he had to be in St. Louis. I haven’t talked to him for a couple of days, but he’s scheduled to be back tomorrow. So, think about what I said, and if you’re still here, you can meet him if you want.”

“Come and get it before we throw it out,” Laura said over the PA system.

“Well, that’s our cue,” the Prime said as he came to his feet.

When they entered the dining room, a nod from Jeff brought Nat, Nicki and Whitney, back from being with Kei, to descend on Higgins.

Nicki was nearest. As she approached, she greeted Higgins with a smile. “Our food is on the hot bar tonight, Mr. Higgins. Come on and we’ll get you started.”

When a still somewhat uptight Higgins looked over at Jeff, he smiled and said, “Don’t forget to try the pineapple upside down cake the girls have prepared especially for you.”

It wasn’t long before the manager was feeling as if he were among friends and had quit worrying about having fired someone that the Matthews seemed to value very highly.

Diana and Kei were conspicuously absent from the meal, Diana’s seat at the other end of Jeff’s table remaining vacant.

Drink and loaded plate in hand, Higgins was seated by Jeff, the girls continuing to draw out the manager until he eventually seemed quite comfortable in his surroundings. Jeff saw Higgins glance at the vacant place setting at the other end of the table. “Diana and our architect had something they had to take care of. Di will be sorry she missed you.”

After the meal, Jeff and several of the Alphas sat in the living room chatting. Dave and Evie, after eating late, came in to join them, and were soon in a discussion with Higgins about some of the problems he had encountered during the boring operation.

When the supervisor took his leave, Jeff walked him to the back door, shook hands and told him he appreciated all the hard work that he and his crew had done. “If you and your wife are ever out this way, please come by and spend the night. You’re always welcome here, and remember to give Frank a call should you decide you’re tired of retirement. I’m sure he can find you something that you’ll like.”

Back a few minutes later, Jeff found Dave and Evie in one of the conference rooms, building plans spread out on the big table.

“We thought Kei would be with us tonight,” Evie said as Jeff came in.

“She is,” Kei responded as she and Diana walked in, the two having eaten after the men left the dining room. As they found seats, Kei continued, “I apologize for being late. I was upset, but Diana, Nat, Nicki and Whitney took care of me. And I suppose that I might as well tell everyone and get it over with. My husband and I are divorcing, and it came as quite a shock.”

“Oh, my goodness,” Evie responded. As soon as Kei sat, Evie reached over and put a hand on Kei’s. “You don’t have to do this now. Dave and I are just going over some of the preliminary things that need to be done to get the first of our crews started tomorrow. We can...”

With a forced smile, Kei interrupted. “I appreciate the consideration, but I suspect that I need to keep busy just now – more than ever. So ... how may I be of assistance?”

“If you’re sure?” Dave asked.

“What had you planned?” Kei asked in return.

A few minutes later, Diana excused herself, left the conference room and stepped into the hallway. As she approached the nearest alcove, she saw her husband sitting there staring into the approaching darkness. Plopping into his lap, she hugged him and said, “I’m so sorry for Kei.” Then after a moment while she hugged him almost desperately, “I’m so lucky. You could, and probably should have divorced me for what I did back in Georgia. Jeff, I’m...”

He interrupted her apology with a long kiss. “I regret several things, too. Keeping you in the dark about what I was doing for the last year or so before I sold my invention comes to mind. I should have sat you down and told you everything, but I knew you would worry – really worry when you found out how much money I had borrowed ... and when it was due. But just as much, I regret ... not killing Jack. Sometimes I wonder if he ever got his dick working again or was ever able to afford having his front teeth replaced. Ten to one, just working scut jobs for that housing complex, he didn’t have any dental insurance. But ... we’ve lived out here for almost a year. He’s probably healed up as much as he’s going to, snaggle-toothed and all,” he finished with an expression that almost gave Diana chills.

“Baby. If you had killed him, you would be in jail. It should have been me that killed the bastard when I found out what he did to Arlene. And I still can’t believe what I let him do to me. But he isn’t worth either of us going to jail for life.”

Jeff turned amused eyes toward his wife. “You underestimate the General. He told me later that he would have ordered Jack’s body ported to the sun. He also said he would have sent in a cleanup team. I actually think he’s amazed that I didn’t kill the bastard. He violated my wife and took my daughter’s virginity. She’s my wife now, so he took my wife’s virginity. The only thing that keeps me from going back and killing his ass even now is that I would not have had Arlene or any of the others for wives if I hadn’t been so upset about the things that had happened.”

Diana snuggled harder against her husband. “Arlene had wanted you since she grew boobs, but I doubt she would have ever gotten the courage to go after you if things had been different. We were certain you were making up your mind to divorce me. She seized the opportunity and sat on your cock. I’m almost positive it was the only thing that would have made you change your mind. You were deciding to divorce me, weren’t you?”

Jeff sighed, and that was answer enough for Diana. “Just remember, Husband. I was a fool for letting Jack live after he first rammed his dick up me, but nothing like that will ever happen again. If that SOB ever comes around me or mine again, Whitworth will have to port the body away or I’ll be in jail. And Husband, please remember, our daughter isn’t the child/woman she was then. She’s fully a woman now with an adult’s mind. She hates Jack for what he did to her and our family. I’m almost certain that she’ll kill him if she gets a chance, and I don’t want killing someone on her conscience.”

For a moment, Jeff continued to sit quietly with his wife in his lap before saying, “Di, chances are that our daughter will take many lives if the aliens attack, and that goes for Ann, too. Arlene is the best pilot we have, and Ann is just a shade behind her in that, and the best gunner in our little fleet of interceptors. But even though Ann will probably be the gunner, the pilot has guns and uses them, too.”

“You know I don’t want either of them in combat...”

“And you think I do?” Jeff hesitated, then went on. “That’s the way it always is, Baby. We put our best out there to die so the rest of us can be free. And ... it’s not just melodrama. It’s the truth.”

“My husband will be fighting, too, and I don’t like that any better now than I have with all the years you have been in the military.”

“No,” he said with a sigh. “You’re wrong about me. Unfortunately, I’ll be in the safest place possible while commanding Ship and the battle. Whitworth practically had a fit when I said I was going to lead our interceptor fleet, and Ship’s mental response was even worse.”

The Prison Planet

As usual, when they weren’t up by the time Gertrude thought they should be, she let out her wake-up serenade.

Jasmine held her hands over her ears and grumbled. Morales raised his head enough to look toward the door. There was, indeed, a faint amount of light from outside seeping past the skins, but he knew that, at best, the night was just beginning to fade. “That damn chicken must have a clock in her head,” he said yet again.

Grinning, Jasmine slid a hand between them to grasp his erection. “Is he always hard?” she asked with a giggle.

“Around you. Hell yes,” he returned. Thinking he felt her tense up, he quickly added, “But Jas, I’ll never push you into anything you don’t want to do. I haven’t so far, have I?”

Jasmine let out a quiet sigh. “Of course not. I know I’m acting like a little girl, but I suppose I’ve become so accustomed to those assholes I worked with...”

“Hush,” he said as he lightly touched his lips to hers. “I told you that we would go at your own pace. After all, I did get mine last night. If you hadn’t brought that rag to bed with you, though, I would have ruined the skins. And, trust me, that was the best hand job I’ve ever had, self-induced or by someone else.”

Jasmine wasn’t sure what she thought about the “someone else” part of that comment, but he had told her about the call girls. And if they had taught him to do the things he had done to her ... Shrugging mentally, she said, “I have morning breath, but you don’t seem to.”