Mrs. Hart's Ache

This is the twenty-first installment of

Mrs. Hart's Ache

Chapter XII Interlude with Maxine

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Author's note: see the Index of Terms for the definition of any word with which you are not familiar.

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This is a simple tale of retribution, wherein the young hero teaches the mother of his newest girlfriend a few manners while enjoying a few adventures – sexual and otherwise – along the way.

James Mark Masterson.

Just your typical teenager. Smart… sexy… sophisticated… and always horny. With the time and bank to do pretty much what he wants to do.

And to do who he wants to do.

Operations Guido and Fat Ass are complete. No friendly casualties, though Marco is a little worse for wear.

Oh well.

Now that Lydia and Marco are in custody, Operation Honeymooners is in progress.

But Maxine has some concerns: things that our hero hasn't thought through.

It's time to let Maxine in on Plan One.

There are a few things that she needs to know…

Besides, maybe later, she can help…

Oh baby! Veronica would

hate

that…

Happy Reading.

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XII Interlude with Maxine

"

…We just need a private place to talk...

"

On the way back to Gwendolyn's, Maxine told me that she'd been a Naval Officer for eight years, but had never seen an operation so well planned, nor one that had gone off so smoothly. It was impressive as hell, particularly my part in it.

Our relationship had definitely changed. We were closer. We'd shared a dangerous situation. There was a respect that hadn't been there before. I realized that Maxine had been watching me. Backing me up, but also ready to jump in and take over if I fucked up. I hadn't fucked up. She was impressed. It felt good.

Maxine could see the gears grinding in my head as we cruised down the road. I could feel her eyes on me. I glanced at her, then smiled.

"You're a little bit surprised. Aren't you?" I said finally.

"Surprised?" She mused. "Yeah. I guess I am. You handled that like a pro. Better than a lot of people I've seen in action. People who've had the training. Sure of yourself. Gathering the information. Looking at all the options. Picking your team. Ensuring logistics. Setting up the lines of communication. Covering the details, including fallbacks. Giving orders, but listening to suggestions. You improvised beautifully by taking out the dickweed, even though he had a gun. No shaking. No hesitation. No confusion. Yeah, I'm surprised."

She shifted in her seat, trying to get comfortable, but it was impossible. She just didn't fit. I glanced over. She was staring ahead, watching the road.

"But I'll tell you what, James." She said with satisfaction. "I know that I don't have to worry about you anymore."

"You never did. But thanks for the back up." I laughed. Serious again, I said. "But watch out for Marti." I glanced at her again. Her eyebrows lifted.

"She's pissed. She could really hurt Marco. I mean, really hurt him. Not 'dead' hurt. But 'permanent' hurt." I said. She could hear the certainty in my voice.

"Yeah, you're right. Good catch." She said nodding. "We talked about it on the way over there. She could de-nut that guy real easy."

"Yeah she could." I agreed. "I wouldn't cry too much if that happened. He is such a dickweed. But Marti would never forgive herself later. She'd have nightmares. She doesn't need that. Neither does Tiffany."

Maxine nodded thoughtfully. "That's exactly what I told her."

"I tell you what." I continued. "Let's keep an eye on her. Let her get a few good licks in, then pull her off. She can help with Lydia's punishment as kind of a backup, when Saundra or Gwendolyn aren't putting her through her paces."

"That's good, James." Maxine agreed. I watched the road, but I could hear the smile in her voice. "And we'll put Cora in as backup on Marco. I think she feels almost the same way about Lydia as Marti feels about Marco."

I could feel her eyes on me again. "Cora expects men to be shits." She said. She put her hand on my shoulder to take the sting out of her words. "She's always surprised when a guy does something nice. But she hates it when a woman hurts another woman. To her, that's against the rules."

I nodded. "Yes, I've seen that in her. Here's the plan then: We'll use Marti and Cora as backup; as the heavies on those two villians. Marti on Marco. Cora on Lydia. But only under supervision. Okay?"

"Yeah 'Okay'!" Maxine enthused. "That way the girls work off their angry without any accidents."

"Now, what about you?" I asked, glancing at her again. Her eyebrows went up.

"Me?" She said startled. "Don't worry about me. I'm the safest one you've got. Oh those two assholes will get theirs. I'm gonna enjoy making them suffer. But I think, no matter what we do to them, it's nothing compared to them watching all their plans go up in smoke. Lydia in particular will be devastated. She thinks that she get through this, then everything will go back to the way it was, with her on top."

It was my turn to be startled. "'D'you think so?" I asked.

"Oh yeah. Trust me." Maxine said with conviction. "That bitch has never been in a situation she couldn't control. Even now she thinks she'll find a way to control this one. I'm almost sorry she saw my truck. But it wouldn't matter. She's seen us. She'd find us if she wanted to. Hell, you can't miss any of the three of us, can you. We're obviously dykes, and I'm not exactly unknown is this town."

"My job is to break her." Maxine mused. "I've got to find a handle. Something that will kick her feet right out from under her. She's got a dream. Something she wants so bad, she can taste it…"

I glanced at her, musing. She was staring hard through the windscreen, pondering. Then I thought, what the hell. It was time to let Maxine in on Operation Mama. I thought about it for another minute, then spotted a hole-in-the-wall diner up ahead. There were a couple of freshly painted picnic tables under the trees nearby. We were about two minutes from Gwendolyn's place. This would take longer.

I slowed abruptly and pulled into the gravel lot. Maxine looked at me questioningly, but I ignored her while I punched up Gwendolyn's number.

"Hi, it's me." I said when she answered. "Maxine and I are taking care of a couple of details. You go ahead with the prep work. We'll be along in twenty minutes. Is everything else okay? Did the packages arrive safely?"

Gwendolyn assured me that everything was fine. The truck had arrived. The packages were in storage. Lydia and Marco were under restraint in their individual cells.

"Get them down to the basics." I said. "But don't do anything more until we get there. We're going to modify the plan a bit. You'll like it. Can't tell you more until we get there."

She agreed and we signed off.

I turned to Maxine. "Two things: first, in order to break those two yo-yos, we're going to have to do to them at least some of what they did to others. You do realize that don't you?"

Maxine nodded, "Yeah, I've thought about that. Cora, Marti and I discussed it briefly. We don't see any way around it, if we're going to get justice for Summer. We could turn the whole thing over to the police, but you don't seem to want that…"

I interupted. "That's the second thing. If you can pry yourself out of that seat, I'll buy you a cup of coffee. We can sit over there. I've got something more to show you."

Maxine's eyes grew wide. "Oh shit! You maniac! I should have guessed. You've got something else planned, don't you."

I grinned. Maxine managed to work her way out of the seat, but it weren't easy. She stretched to get the kinks out while I set up the laptop and slipped another disc in the drive. She took a seat on the bench, and watched the action unfold while I went in for coffee.

Sweet little waitress. Early twenties. Nice cho-chos. Cute butt. The short-order cook gave me an ugly frown. Apparently I was poaching just by looking. Oh well.

I watched Maxine, sipping my coffee as she viewed selected cuts from the scenes with Marco and Missy, and Marco and Veronica. Those of Missy were not new. Those with Veronica definitely were.

When the first disc finished running, she looked at me still puzzled. I held up a finger and exchanged the disc for one of selected cuts from the scene between Marco and Lydia.

Maxine's expression turned from puzzlement to comprehension as the disc spun.

"Oh those assholes!" She murmured as she watched. "So that's what they were up to. I knew there had to be something more."

When the screen blanked, she looked to me with a grin. "You kept that one close to your chest, didn't you, you jerk."

"Yeah, I did." I answered with a matching grin. "This one's called 'Operation Mama'. Here's the handle you need. Lydia wants it all, and she thinks she's gonna get it. She's got to have her own videos of Marco and Veronica in action. Blackmail is on her mind. She wants to dropkick Veronica and take over the magazine. Part of our job is to get that shit away from her."

She nodded. "Yeah, but that ain't all, is it." She said with conviction. "Mama's a bitch-on-wheels herself, isn't she. I bet she's been yankin' your chain for months now. It's time she got wound up in some chain of her own, isn't it."

"Yeah." I nodded. "Veronica has been a Queen Bitch from the first moment we met. I want to play with her a little, but I couldn't let Ren and Stimpy have her. If those pictures got out, her daughter would be devastated. Knowing Lydia, she'd take over from Veronica, then release the pics anyway. Won't let

that

happen."

"No, we won't." Maxine agreed. I appreciated the 'we'. "This gives me just what I need to kick the traces out from under Lydia."

She looked up. Her eyes were glittering with plans. "You asked my what I wanted. Here it is: Marti and Cora are still in on Lydia's discipline. The physical part anyway. But I'm gonna be in charge of breaking her. I'm gonna do it in self-defense. If I don't take her down, she's eventually gonna come after us. She's that type."

She looked at me closely. "I bet I can guess what part you've chosen." She said grinning. "First, you're gonna have some fun with Tinkerbelle… Our little Wendy-girl."

Surprised, I looked up to meet her eyes. "Shit! I've seen the way she looks at you." Maxine continued. "As far as she's concerned, you're her 'white knight'. She'll do anything to stay close to you… To get on your good side. She looks at you like Cassandra looks at you. I think you've got another one of those what'da'yacallit, another 'submissive'? Never understood that, but different strokes…

She smiled, her eyes twinkling with secret glee. "That ain't the best part though. That's just icing on the cake. You've got a different agenda. One that you've been planning from the beginning of this whole adventure." Maxine was certain of herself.

"You're gonna take mama down, aren't you." She stated rather than asked. "Hard. So hard, her butt's gonna feel it for about a month."

"Three months, actually." I answered, sipping my coffee. "Her daughter leaves town at the end of next week. She's going to Italy for the Summer. In the meantime, Veronica and I are going to get to know each other real well."

I put the cup down, swirling the coffee. It tasted as though it had been cooking for a couple of hours. Couldn't wait to get back to Gwendolyn's for a fresh cup.

"This isn't about sex either. Not completely anyway." I admitted. "Oh, I'll tear a piece or two off of Veronica's ass, but that isn't the real goal. Not anymore."

"Mama is not nice." I finished. "I could handle it if she left it between her and me. But she took a cheap… I mean a

cheap

shot at Mom… Can't let her get away with that! It's time someone taught her some manners."

I threw the remnants of the coffee on the gravel as I stood. Maxine picked up the laptop. I tossed the cups in the trash, then led the way to the car. We paused for a moment with the car between us, looking at each other. Maxine waited for the rest of it.

"After it's over, I'll give her a copy of that disc. She can spend the rest of her life thinking about how close she came to the abyss…"

We slid into our seats, Maxine with a bit more trouble than I. I looked at her once more as the engine kicked over.

"…and about who pulled her out."

Maxine smiled as the gravel kicked. She understood.

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Index of Terms

chochos

– female breasts.

dickweed

– male pubic hair; a pejorative term for a man; asshole; moron; idiot.

logistics

– the aspect of military science dealing with the procurement, maintenance, and transportation of military matériel, facilities, and personnel; the handling of the details of an operation.

Ren and Stimpy

– two cartoon characters, a "psychotic Chihuahua and a blissfully stupid cat"; see The Secret Origins of Ren & Stimpy by Brandon Finkler.

submissive

– a person who attains sexual gratification by submitting to the demands of another.

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