Mother - Hostile Maeover

When Lauren and Ethan met with Jon in his office that morning she expected a fight.

Her summary of what had happened on Kai'ulau would destroy whatever ideas he still had of partnering with the Novaks. One of their partners had sold out to strangers. Another had disappeared and was missing under suspicious circumstances. On top of all that, and what had nearly happened to Ethan, the truth about how Lauren had spent her days and nights on the island couldn't be denied. She'd done her best to keep the account of Libidramine's effects discreet and general, but it was undeniably a first-person account.

She expected her husband to be hostile and hurt.

He was the opposite. "Ebullient" was the best word for Jon's mood that morning.

"What I'd say is, we've fallen into a manure pile and found a diamond."

"Excuse me? Did you even read what I wrote?"

"Over and over. I had plenty of time to myself last night. You could at least have called. Where were you?"

"I stayed at Ethan's." Lauren stole a glance at her son and sat straighter in her chair. "So, if you read it, you know that there's real addictive potential here. Jan's been so addled by it that NGT has as much as stolen her stake in Blue Oasis out from under her--"

"How many times have you said that our job is to deliver the products that our customers want?" Jon cut her off. "Both of you say it, and I agree. If there are habituation issues, that's not our concern. Let the regulators sort it out when and if they ever step in. And as far as I'm concerned, swapping out Janet for the Novaks and what they bring to the table is trading up, big-time."

It had been ages since her husband's self-centeredness had surprised Lauren, but his callous dismissal of Janet shocked her speechless. Ethan sat quiet and still, not taking his eyes from his father. He was simmering. He and Jon had never been close, in the way you'd expect a father and his only child to be, and there'd been times since the beginning of their business partnership when they'd barely tolerated each other. There was a new charge to that dynamic this morning. Lauren had poured oil on a fire.

She recovered herself enough to ask, in an even voice, "In all your careful reading, did you skip the part where I'm pretty sure they've done away with Frank?"

Jon settled back in his big desk chair, folded his hands across his belly, and smiled. "As it happens, I spoke to Frank for some time last night."

"What?" Lauren exclaimed. "Where is he?"

"He's in hospital in Taiohae. The embassy in Samoa contacted me. It took some doing to get a call through to him."

"Thank God! Is he all right?"

"He was in rough shape--hungry and suffering from exposure. Delusional. He turned up a couple of days ago in Hakahau. No ID, no money, nothing. They treated him, got him stabilized, and flew him over to Nuku Hiva. Someone there reached out to Samoa."

Ethan glared at his father. "You talked to him last night and you didn't tell either of us. This is like a million times more important than any of your one-upping bullshit."

"Watch it, Junior."

"Or what?"

Jon regarded Ethan appraisingly for several moments before turning his attention back to Lauren, he said, "It's not like you've been particularly forthcoming, lately."

"Jon, what happened to him?"

"It's like I said, Frank's delusional. He claims to have been held prisoner by someone named Jakob--I assume that's the same as this assistant of Aleksandra's you wrote about--and that he escaped and swam out to a passing fishing boat in the middle of the night. Scared hell out of an old guy and his sons who didn't speak a word of English, but they took him aboard. One way or another he finally made his way to Ua Pou.

"There's a whole lot he doesn't seem to remember, yet. But he was babbling about brainwashing, mind control, all nonsense. Does that sound anything like what happened to you, Laur?"

Put on the spot, she replied, "It's a lot more extreme than I'd describe it, but--"

"Good. Because if you'd been brainwashed, I'd have to question everything you've claimed so far. And neither of us want that, do we?"

That was too much for Ethan. He got up and spun Jon's chair around, bracing his hands on the padded arms and looming over his father. "You like being the boss, don't you? We can replace you. We can do it this week."

"Ethan!"

"Save it, Mom. He's overdue."

Lauren had never seen her son so furious about anything. He was temperamentally reserved and analytical. She wasn't sure that he'd back off, and guilt stabbed her as she realized what she'd ignited by fucking him. It was like watching elks lock horns on Animal Planet.

"Honey--Give us a few minutes? Please? This isn't business, now. It's personal and it's between your father and me."

Ethan looked at her doubtfully, again at his father, and strode angrily from the office.

Jon stared after him for a long time before saying, "At least he listens to you. Something's got him worked up."

"Something? Maybe the fact that the worse the Novaks turn out to be, the more eager you are to jump into bed with them."

"Maybe that's not the best choice of words for you, right now." Jon rubbed his face with both hands. "What do you want me to say? You and Ethan are both telling me that Lib works as advertised, and way better than we could ever have believed. Not just the sex stuff, but, I mean, look at you. You haven't looked this good since--"

"Knock it off."

"--Since before the kid was born. We can sell the world youth and beauty and sex and

we can deliver."

"I don't get you. You've always been obsessed with our keeping tight control of the company within the group. You didn't even want to let your own son in, after everything he'd done."

"This is about keeping our company, period. However underhanded their methods, they've already bought into us. I've talked to the lawyers. We can tie them up in court and go broke in the process. Or we can be friends with our new partners."

"You seriously believe that Frank will go along with this? After what he's been through?"

"Are you sure that the Novaks did that? Aleksandra denied it. Sounds like this Jakob may be a loose cannon."

"Jakob does what she tells him to do. Trust me."

"Frank will come around. He's a rock," Jon said with a wave of his hand.

"You're unbelievable! I know how hard it is for you, Jon, but just try to think about someone other than yourself. Way before Frank became your yes-man, he was your friend. Doesn't that matter more than the company?"

Jon wouldn't meet her eyes. He flipped the pages of the print-out of her Kai'ulau report that lay on his desk, squared up the pages, and pretended to read it over at it as if it were the only interesting thing on Earth.

Lauren gave up. "We all built Blue Oasis together. But the only thing you can see these days is your own legend. In your head, you're busy writing the next chapter in Jon Chase's autobiography. And there's no scene in it where you lose everything. Is there?"

She retrieved her purse from the floor by her chair and walked to the door, paused, and turned back to him. "One last thing. Aleksandra is a shark. She'll never stop, and she doesn't want to be our partner. She wants to own us."

"Sure. Of course, maybe we could insure against that by consolidating our shares. You and I aren't on the same page very often. Maybe you'd like to sell me some of your stake. Or all of it."

"Fuck off."

He smiled, shrugged, and said, "You make Aleksandra Novak sound like an intriguing woman. Can't wait to meet her."

Ethan was waiting for his mother in her office. "All I wanna know is, if I kill the son of a bitch do I have to blind myself?"

Caught off guard, Lauren laughed in spite of herself. "I don't know what's gotten into your father. Grandiosity is his middle name, but

this?

He's got blinders on."

She tossed her purse on her desk, sank into her chair, and kicked off her shoes. "It's not funny, actually. I thought you were going to punch him out."

"I wanted to. It's not a new thing. Every time he talks down to you I wanna knock him on his ass."

"But you've never gotten physical before. Remember what you told me that one time, about sex being this powerful engine that can drive everything out of control?" Her eyes welled with tears. "Christ, what have I done to you? I'm a monster."

"You're not." Ethan took her hands in his, raising her to her feet. They embraced and she pressed her face into his shoulder, wetting his soft flannel shirt. "You're a weird chick, but you're no villain. You want to do what's right for people."

"Seriously? Look at us now. I've done so many things wrong at this point that I don't know what the right thing even looks like."

"We'll figure it out." One of his thighs eased between hers and she ground her mound automatically against him before she realized it.

"What do you think you're doing, young man?"

"Helping you start your day over." His hands went to her hips and tugged at the twill of her skirt, hiking it up in the back until he could slip his fingers under the waistband of her panties.

"Oh my--We can't do this here!" He gave her buttocks a gentle squeeze. Lauren suppressed a yelp.

"I just locked the door."

"I usually leave my door open. What if someone saw you waiting in here, before?"

"Well, if they suspect us of anything inappropriate they should be ashamed of themselves. I'm your son, lady. Like you said, hide in plain sight."

"Dear God..."

She kissed him and unbuttoned his jeans, pushing them to his knees. His cock was hard and warm in her palm. He hooked his fingers under the elastic of her panties and dragged them down her thighs. She stepped out and kicked them away.

She wished she had a sofa in here. With nothing but the sisal rug under her desk and two swivel chairs in the place, they'd have to do it on the slick mahogany floor. Her son already had her so hot that it hardly mattered.

He walked her backward toward the door and crouched in front of her. He thrust his head up under her skirt and took the globes of her ass in his big hands. Straightening up suddenly, he lifted her into the air.

"Oh-OHH!" Lauren's back was against the door, her thighs draped over Ethan's shoulders with her calves dangling. His face was under her skirt. She squeezed her thighs around his head. "Oh, honey, you're gonna hurt your--"

Her son kissed her pussy. His nose brushed the hood of her clitoris, and when his tongue flicked across the swelling bud itself she had to bite down on the edge of her hand to keep from crying out. At least she'd chosen an office with opaque wall panels, but there was no way the partitions were soundproof against screams.

He feathered his tongue up and down her wet furrow, occasionally taking her labia between his lips and sucking tenderly, driving her crazy. A slow heat flowed from her pelvis outward over her entire body. "Don't stop," she mumbled around her knuckles. "Don't ever stop! Keep sucking my pussy, fuck me with your tongue, honey, that's it, that's it, I'm gonna...gonna..."

She came, bucking against his face so hard she was afraid he'd drop her. But Ethan's strong arms encircled her thighs, and his hands gripped the tops of her legs to hold her firmly in place.

He acted as if she weighed nothing at all. He let go of one leg to slide a hand under her skirt. He slid a finger into her cunt, then a second. Sucking her clit between his lips, he kept working his tongue over the stiff little button at the same time that his fingertips massaged the sensitive lining of her vagina. Her stomach contracted and without warning her body let go, another orgasm powering through her. She shook in the throes of mindless ecstasy.

When the spasms of her core subsided, Ethan lifted his mother effortlessly from his shoulders and stood her back on the floor.

"Man, you are one strong motherfucker." She dropped to her knees in front of her son. She wanted him in her mouth first and after that, well, who needed cushions, anyway? She didn't care now whether she fucked him on the floor, the desk, or hanging out of the window.

"It's hereditary. Those thighs of yours? I thought you were gonna crush my skull there."

"Mama's got muscles in places you still don't know about. I'll wring you dry, kiddo."

"But not this morning." He patted the crown of her head. "Afraid I got a code walkthrough with the UI team in five minutes. New point-of-sale module. Some of us work here."

"Ha-ha." She licked his cock-head and took him into her mouth for a quick suck. The scent and taste of her own son intoxicated her, but she released him after only a few pulls. "That'll give you something to look forward to while your fellow Poindexters drone on."

She smoothed her skirt and went looking for her underpants. "That was a lovely mental health break. A lot more relaxing than one of those damn meditation cubicles downstairs. Say, can we lock those from the inside?"

"They start beeping after fifteen minutes. Management can get in. Can't have people dying while they de-stress."

"Pity." She sighed. "I still have no idea what we're going to do about Aleksandra," she said, sighing as she found her underpants. "I doubt either of us has got any pull left with your father, at all."

"What about Stefan?"

"Excuse me?"

"You told me that Aleksandra wants him here, running Blue Oasis. We could make that happen, couldn't we?

Lauren was dumbfounded at the suggestion. "Are you nuts? Why in heaven's name would we even want to do that?"

"It's logical. Dad is hell-bent on throwing in with the Novaks anyway. You and I can't influence him. But you might have more of an in with Stefan."

"Is that a dig? If it is, I resent it."

Ethan buckled his belt and took her hand. "Don't. Listen, I thought about a lot of things last night, after you told me everything. Remember those happily-ever-after movies Grandma loved to watch on Hallmark?"

"Too well. What does that have to do with the cost of beans?"

"Because that's not you and me. There's no way we end up together on Christmas Eve in a prairie cottage watching snow fall outside. It sounds like you and Stefan might. I'm not going to be jealous, Mom, and I wasn't taking a shot at you. So maybe putting Stefan in actual charge around here is too extreme, but can you think of a good reason that we shouldn't cultivate an alliance with him before Dad starts cozying up?"

"God damn you, Spock." As was so often the case, Ethan's reasoning came out of left field and was outrageous, but sound. It was one of the virtues of having him close to her, if far from the most exciting one.

"Do you trust Stefan?" Ethan asked.

"More than I should. Sadly. Let me think. The Novaks were due to arrive from L.A. this morning. They might be at their hotel by noon. "I'll try to set up a meeting," she said. "Keep your evening free."

"Already planning on it." Ethan kissed his mother full on the lips. "But not because of the Novaks."

†††

When Stefan picked up, it occurred to Lauren that she'd never spoken to him on the phone. His deep voice excited her more than she'd expected. He was relieved and too glad to hear from her and needed no convincing to agree to dinner, even with Ethan and the rest of his party invited.

There was never a wait to be seated at Dulcinea's on a Tuesday evening. Ethan's antique motorcycle was already parked in the far corner of the half-empty asphalt lot when Lauren arrived. She parked next to him. The low, sprawling concrete structure had lost a few more pink faux-stucco panels since her last visit. A local artist's welded steel sculpture of a droopy horseman, too obviously modeled on Picasso's Quixote, stood its weather-worn watch amid the cacti and sparse ornamental shrubs in the small plaza out front. It looked as if at any time it might mistake one of the crepe myrtles for a windmill.

As she parked, she was surprised to get a text from Jakob of all people.

--Must see you. Talk alone. Urgent Please?

What the fuck? She mulled it over for a minute.

--OK

She tossed her phone on the passenger seat, locked the car, and headed inside.

Ethan sat with the Kai'ulauans at a table in the back of the dining room, separated by a brick archway from the bar in front. He and Stefan were involved in an animated discussion over a diagram that he was drawing on the back of a placemat. Jakob was there in full bespoke regalia, nursing a drink and looking on in bemusement. He stood up and waved Lauren over.

"They are discussing engineering ...solvent filters? Ions? Things I don't understand, sorry."

"Water purification," Ethan said, barely looking up from his sketch. It was a crude map of Kai'ulau with various scribbled notations and arrows that meant nothing to her.

"The failure of the phosphate mines left so much of the island's groundwater contaminated," Stefan explained. "Another problem I want to solve. Your son has a proposal using reverse osmosis." He clapped Ethan on the shoulder.

"I know

some

of the engineering principles," Ethan demurred. "The energy consumption issues can be solved with pressure exchangers, but the cost--"

"--Will not be a problem for us," Stefan turned the diagram around to face himself, taking the pen from Ethan and adding marks to the map. "Look here, the major run-off areas are in the north..."

Finding her son and her lover bonding over solving a problem was a welcome if unexpected development. That didn't keep her from feeling weirdly invisible as they became absorbed in their discussion again. Jakob pulled out her chair. "They are both polymaths, aren't they?" he said.

Lauren noticed that his shirt collar was soaked through, despite Dulcinea's frigid air conditioning. She scanned the room. "Where's Aleksandra?"

"Mrs. Novak chose to remain in Los Angeles for another day," Jakob said. "To consult with the attorneys, she said. I suspect it was to shop, mostly. She leaves the island so rarely."

"Jewelry? Because she's not exactly a clothes horse."

His short chuckle didn't disguise his underlying tension. She could only guess that whatever was wrong had to do with Aleksandra herself. What wasn't he saying? Best to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible.

She ordered a drink and glanced at the menu, then made a point of rummaging around in her purse. "Left my phone in the car," she said, catching Jakob's eye. Immersed in their planning, Ethan and Stefan barely acknowledged when she excused herself and left the table. She figured that she could have skipped the subterfuge altogether.

Jakob joined her in the parking lot minutes later. "What's with the cloak and dagger? You carrying a message from the boss lady?"

"Mrs. Novak? No." He was plainly in anguish. "It's-it's you, Lauren." He closed the distance between them and took her in his arms.

"Don't!" Ignoring her protest, he backed her up and pinned her against her car.

"I said no!" she repeated, still more irritated than alarmed. Jakob carrying a torch for her was one more complication that she didn't need. She tried to push him away but he would not let go. Eyes filled with torment, he kissed her. He stroked her cheek, and down the side of her chin, and his fingers found the soft hollow of her throat under the hinge of her jaw.

He pressed his thumb firmly into her unprotected flesh. Her head swam. She struggled, wedging her fists between them and shoving against his chest.

He was too strong. The thumb dug in. Her blood beat futilely against the pinched walls of its fragile channel. His wet blue eyes faded and merged into the dying yellow blur of the Moon above his shoulder.

The Moon went out.

†††

Curled up like a drowsy child in a small darkened space. Jostling and bouncing. The familiar whine of the Miata's engine. She couldn't move her arms. Occasional flashes of silver light filtering from above glinted on metal where her hands ought to be.