All characters engaging in sexual activities of any kind are 18 years of age or older.
Any spelling or grammar mistakes are of my own doing.
STORY BEGINS HERE.
As soon as I had heard that James' parents had passed away, I just knew that something was going to happen. His parents were good people and were in fairly good health for their age, which was the same as mine. A car accident had taken them too soon from our community. It's too bad that their son wasn't like them. Especially, after he went out to California.
James was the ex-boyfriend of my son's wife Chloe. I like Chloe. She wasn't afraid of hard work and getting her hands dirty. When my son Sean met her, she was a grade school teacher, who worked as a landscaper during the summer months.
One of my husband Mitch's favorite stories to tell people, is about the first time Sean laid eyes on Chloe. He was literally speechless. Chloe was talking about what they were going to do, but all Sean could do was stare at her with his mouth open. Mitch had to literally throw a rag into his face, to get him to snap out of it. It was love at first sight for my son.
When he asked Chloe to marry him at Christmas, I decided that it was time to look into her past. She did well in college. Graduating near the top of her class. She had her "wild year," her junior year of college. She had sown some oats, which is fine. She didn't have the best taste in men with some of those flings. It was James who caught my attention though.
He had been her high school love. He decided to end things with her after graduation, and go to college at UCLA. Once he got out to California, he fell in with a bad crowd. He had been arrested twice for misdemeanor gambling, twice for petty theft, and once for misdemeanor cocaine possession. Because of California's liberal government and laws, he never saw any jail time. He was always given a fine and probation.
I have always handled the business side of my husband and I's construction company, far better than he ever did. Mitch was always pleasant and warm to everybody. He didn't know how to play the political game and didn't want to. My mother was a city auditor, and my father was a city councilman and longtime city council president. I grew up around it. I understood how to use it to your advantage.
From the moment James landed, I had him followed. His parents house, the store, the funeral home, anywhere he went, one of my guys was on him. He didn't go anywhere or do anything that was out of the ordinary for a person, burying his parents, until the funeral dinner.
I was in my office, talking to my son Sean on the phone. He was angry that he couldn't go to the service with Chloe. Looking back on it now, I should've let him go, but we had an opportunity to land a twenty-five million dollar contract. The board of the company offering the contract wanted to speak to Sean personally. It was the only day they had available as well.
I saw my cell phone light up and noticed it was one of my guys tailing James, calling me. I put my son on hold and answered it. He told me that James had just met with a drug dealer named "Skinny Pete." I told them to pick up Pete and find out what he had given him. I waited over an hour before; I heard back from them. By that time it was going on the end of the three o'clock workday.
When my cell rang again, I answered it immediately.
"What took so damn long?" I replied gruffly.
"Skinny Pete is a like a cockroach. He's fast and can squeeze into tight spaces. It took us a bit to catch him."
"What did he buy?"
"X. He bought ecstasy." my guy replied.
"That son of a bitch!" was all I got out.
"Meredith. Chloe just ran out to her car and she's crying. If you or we were going to do something, it's too late."
"As soon as she leaves, I want you to bring his ass to me." I said.
"Where do you want to meet then boss?"
"I feel like a fresh steak dinner. Let's meet there in an hour." I replied and hung up the phone.
I got up and grabbed my coat from the rack, and told my secretary to have Sasha come pick me up immediately, and it's not a request. She looked at me with her eyebrows raised, as she picked up the phone. I waited at the backdoor of the building for fifteen minutes, before Sasha arrived in her car.
"Who stuck a bee in your bonnet boss?" she asked me, as I got in.
"I need to cut me a steak dinner right now. Let's go." I replied.
As she peeled away, my phone rang again.
"Boss. Chloe made a brief phone call then left. We're on the way to the restaurant." my guy said and then hung up.
I immediately pulled out my laptop and fired it up. Most people do not realize that you can listen to voicemails and any conversation at all, from a cell phone or landline, on your laptop. Without thinking, I pulled up Chloe's last conversation and played it. After hearing Chloe confess to her best friend Stephanie; I slammed my laptop closed in anger and hurt.
Neither Sasha nor I, said a word, after I slammed my laptop closed. My head was spinning. I was angry at Chloe. I was angry at James, and knew that I was going to make him pay. I was hurting for my son. I couldn't imagine the pain that he was going to go through, when he heard that brief phone call.
I could see Sasha looking over at me out of the corner of her eye sometimes on the drive there. I could tell that she wanted to say or ask something. Normally she always said what was on her mind, but this was different. The air felt as tense as I could ever remember. We were almost there, when I finally broke the silence.
"Just ask whatever it is your wondering Sasha."
I watched Sasha take a breath in and reply.
"Who's gonna do it?"
"I am."
"Oh come on. It's been months since I got to have some fun with some asshole."
"Well, this asshole might've just ruined my son's marriage. I'm doing this one personally. Understand?"
"Yeah, I understand."
We pulled into the driveway of a farmhouse that we owned, drove around, and pulled into the big cattle barn. My guys had pulled in from the other side and we met them halfway inside, with the vehicles about ten feet apart. Sasha and I got out. I looked over to my left and saw that they had him strung up in one of the empty stalls blindfolded.
"What did say when you grabbed him?" I asked.
"He just kept asking who we are or who we work for."
"How much damage did you have to do, to string him up?" I asked nobody in particular.
"None really. Punch to the gut. I just put him to sleep right before you pulled in."
