Monster 7

A very warm thank you to Decal_last for his help editing this latest submission.

FIVE TO MIDNIGHT

"Damn," Merrick Miller grunted to himself, looking at his wife glued to her phone.

It had finally dawned upon him; Kimberly was addicted.

Morning, day, and night, her frantic eyes and feverish fingers never left the touchscreen as of late. There was always something new to see and follow. She searched new trends, new things, the most recent news.

"Merrick, do you know what akrasia means?" she blurted out.

"Yeah, it's Greek; it means acting against one's better judgment," he replied, looking around at his unkempt abode.

"I didn't even know this word existed," she continued, without raising her eyes from the screen. "It's when people know what's good for them but they lack the will to do it."

"Like making dinner or cleaning around the house once in a while, instead of spending the whole day on the phone?"

"Yeah," Kimberly replied, oblivious to his sardonic remark.

Sighing, Merrick took a deep look at his wife sitting on the couch. Kimberly was gorgeous, creative, and caring. Falling in love with her had been effortless, like falling off a cliff. The ride down had been exhilarating these past 3 years, but now he could see the ground closing in on him alarmingly fast.

Maybe it was time to redirect his focus before their marriage paid the ultimate price.

After his Dad had nearly ruined the family's company, Merrick had been forced to restructure UpNorth Miller Co. from the bottom up. 'Evolve or die'.

The struggle to find new investors, a solidified new vision, and a new paradigm had required his undivided attention and now Merrick was discovering the first casualty; his connection with Kimberly.

"Hey!" she protested when he yanked the phone from her hands. "I was watching that!"

His lips on hers silenced her objection.

"Yes, and now, you're gonna watch this. I've missed you."

Kimberly kissed him back, enveloping his neck on her arms.

Soon, the couple was rolling on their expensive Broyhill couch. Merrick's fingers slid in between her thighs, slowly climbing toward her panties. Kimberly grinned as he gently caressed her sex through the fabric, before removing it altogether.

His lips joined his fingers exploring her succulent labia and toying with her protruding clitoris. An index finger tentatively traced the rim of her rear entry and Kimberly's eyes bulged.

"Aah! Bad boy," she squealed.

Smiling, Merrick continued to service his sexy wife, listening to her breathing as she climbed toward an orgasm. Twice he left her there, just inches away from the summit.

"Stop that," she slapped his shoulder in frustration.

On the third time, he licked her clit vigorously toward an explosive climax, watching his wife flail in ecstasy.

"Ooh! M-Merrick! Ooh!" Yesss!"

Kimberly plopped on the leather and Merrick climbed on top of his panting wife. His cock slid easily inside her drenched vulva.

"Hmmm, you're ruthless," she smiled, feeling her pussy walls give way to the tumescent invader. He grinned back at her with lustful eyes.

"I really am."

Merrick plunged deeper into her, slowly at first, then faster as she adjusted to the sensations of his seven inch cock on her cervix.

"H! H! Oh! Merrick! Hm! Oh!" Kimberly moaned in delight, lifting her legs to lock her heels around his lower back.

She lifted her hips to meet his thrusting pelvis and Merrick found his rhythm in the slapping sounds of their flesh clashing. It had been a while since they had made love and Merrick reached his peak too soon, ejaculating deep inside his wife.

Kimberly basked in the warm sensation of his love goo in her while the lovers embraced, kissing with passion.

Merrick looked into her clear eyes, realizing how much he loved his wife. She had made him feel whole, like a real human being. Her kind and gentle ways woke up feelings in him he didn't know he had, like empathy and compassion.

"God, you're beautiful."

"I really am," she replied with a smile.

It was the last time they truly made love.

FOUR TO MIDNIGHT

The following months saw the return of UpNorth Miller Co. to the eyes of the Stock Market Exchange, as Merrick injected capital in the company and a breathe of fresh air into the boardroom.

Younger, eager faces now sat in front of him, their minds buzzing with exciting ideas and out-of-the-box approaches to older problems. Merrick smiled, watching his corporation turn around, threatening to take the East Coast by storm.

Kimberly was right, he was ruthless and vulnerable companies quickly discovered this at their own expense.

UpNorth Miller Co. gobbled them up like small fish or left them to die by the wayside; Kuraitis, Travert Marketing, Roux-Ward Analytical.

They all fought, they all fell.

"Delicious," Merrick muttered to himself, grinning like a shark as the wheels of his brand new helicopter touched the helipad on the roof of Dawson & Reid Manufacturing.

It was a cold night and his niece Mindy shivered as they stepped out of the shiny Augusta Westland AW109 Grand Versace VIP.

"Oh, God, it is freezing," the young woman trembled. "I hate this place already."

"You hate everything," Merrick smiled.

The company's executives and departments' lead staff stood clattering their teeth, staring in awe at the company's likely new owner.

The Millers marched past them without as much as a wave, heading down to the CEO's office. They were going to rip poor ole Elizabeth Reid to shreds.

"Izzy! You haven't aged a day since we last met!" Merrick raised his arms to give the elderly lady a hug. "I love what you've done to your hair."

"Hello, Merry! Hi, Mindy," the disheveled woman stepped back with a displeased glare, rejecting Merrick's olive branch.

Her desk was a mess, cluttered with reports, clauses, profit margin charts and vain attempts to find a last minute escape from UpNorth Miller Co.'s hostile takeover.

"And here I was, having such a delightful evening..."

"I saw the welcome wagon upstairs, that was a nice gesture," Merrick pointed up and Mindy scanned the ceiling. Izzy squinted her tired bloodshot eyes.

"Cowards and bootlickers, they're all afraid they're getting axed." Izzy replied before lifting her piercing gaze to meet his dead stare. Merrick was nearly impossible to read when circling the waters around his next victim. "My Dad would have spat on all of them."

"Now, now, don't be that gal, Izzy. The company will be in good hands, I promise you; nobody's getting axed," he lifted his hand to make the Scout honor hand gesture. His left hand, Izzy scoffed as he continued:

"You know I never let my people down, isn't that the truth, Mindy?"

"Yes, Uncle Merry, totally," the young woman replied. "Loyalty is key."

"Loyalty is key," Merrick echoed her.

"What do you want, Merry?"

"You've been a naughty gal, Izzy. You're trying to fight off the takeover." Merrick chided her. "Your top guy, Munir Al-Amin, is in Hong Kong right now, trying to sell your R&D Division to Zhou Trans-Pacific."

"That would render Dawson & Reid worthless, wouldn't it?" Elizabeth sighed, the jig was blown. "How did you find out, corporate espionage? How uniquely you..."

"Nah, your shareholders. Old Sullivan ratted you out; he was worried about his grandchildren's hedge fund portfolio." Merrick shrugged.

"Sullivan, of course," Izzy mumbled.

"So, are you going to war with me, Izzy?" Merrick lifted his fisticuffs to parody the old school fighting Irish stance. "Do you wanna fight me, is that it?"

Mindy smothered a giggle behind him and Izzy stared at his mocking grin, feeling her disgust burn inside her. Her tired spirit finally bent under the pressure of these last few months.

"You're rotten inside, Merrick. You always were, even as a kid. I knew it then and I know it now," she hissed. "I'll burn this whole place to the ground if I have to, to keep my father's company from you."

Merrick's face sobered, listening to her words. For a moment, he felt sad; he had always liked the old gal; Izzy was stoic, loyal, and kind. Not common traits among CEOs. She would have been a valuable asset.

Then, his shark teeth came into full display and his mind returned to its dark place. Yes, he had no doubt Izzy was willing to destroy her Dad's legacy to keep it from falling in his hands. But what about her own people, he pondered.

"Leave now. Don't put on your coat, don't take your scarf, just go," he said in a low voice, sending a chill down her spine. "Leave your phone, your laptop and your gorgeous Prada handbag right where they are."

Elizabeth Reid stared at Merrick in disbelief, then at Mindy who tilted her head back at her, and at Merrick once again.

"If you are still in the building in the next five minutes, I will have everybody on the helipad upstairs fired when I buy this place. I will have their wives and husbands fired. I will have their children begging for spare change at soup kitchens before Christmas and prostituting themselves on the streets for meth by this time next year. Look at me. Am I lying, Izzy?"

Izzy continued to scan into Merrick's dead eyes, searching for some trace of humanity in them. Who was this man? All she found was a soulless void.

She took a tentative step back, then another before rushing for the door.

"You are a monster, Merrick Miller!" her voice trembled.

"I really am," he smiled, watching the old lady head for the elevator, biting his lower lip as his eyes tracked her butt. 'You've still got it, Izzy.'

The staff was still at the helipad freezing when the Millers took off; they would never know how close their families' Doomsday Clock had ticked to midnight.

"That was so cool, Uncle Merry." Mindy clapped, excited.

THREE TO MIDNIGHT

As always, Kimberly was on her phone texting her friends when Merrick came home.

The joy of seeing his wife after a hard day at work sundered, Kimberly's addiction to her cell phone had only worsened over the last few months. His pleas to get her into therapy had fallen in deaf ears.

Her own clients were beginning to shy away from soliciting her for their projects.

"Hey, stallion, shower me with news of the outside world."

"Well, it's still in one piece," Merrick smiled, kissing her lips. Her eyes quickly returned to the screen.

"Glad to hear it."

"What's for dinner?" he asked, heading for the bedroom. The place looked absolutely pristine, thank God for the new Guatemalan maid!

"I ordered takeout, you'll like it. From the new Indonesian restaurant down the street, Zagat gave it a four point five rating." She shouted.

Takeout, of course, he thought to himself. It was always takeout, lately. When was the last time they had eaten a home cooked meal?

Merrick returned to the living room to give her a piece of his mind, but approaching her from behind something on his wife's phone stopped him dead on his track. Something that pierced right through his heart; it almost stopped beating.

Men.

Kimberly was on Tinder, looking at photos of young, gorgeous, vibrant men with fascinating eyes, charismatic noses, riveting smiles and magnificent hair. When, how, why... what was this? Merrick was devastated; his worst fears had come to life.

Saving UpNorth Miller Co. and turning the company around had driven the final nail through his marriage's coffin. His wife was now looking elsewhere for the attention he had deprived her all this time.

Years of neglect had carved a gulf between them and it might be too late to heal the rift. Tears were forming in his eyes when he heard his father's voice in his head:

"Miller men don't cry. Ever."

The couple ate their takeout food in silence; it was probably delicious but neither of them noticed it. Merrick was lost in thought, staring at his wife while Kimberly marveled at the countless choices the internet had to offer.

Her fascinated eyes stared at the screen, failing to register her distraught husband sitting across the table, struggling to contain his tears.

How could it all have gone so wrong?

Things got worse when they went to bed. Kimberly was not in the mood to fool around and she rejected his advances. Frustrated and brokenhearted, Merrick kissed her goodnight, put on his sleeping mask to filter his wife's phone's blue light and went to sleep.

This was easier said than done.

He was still awake an hour later, struggling to fade into dreamland. The few inches that separated them in bed now felt like miles of No Man's Land.

The following weeks, Merrick changed his strategy, showering his wife with attention and gifts; a romantic evening at Arnaud's, a Buccellati necklace, and a night out dancing at the Swingin' Sappho.

He followed with signed copies of E. M. Parker's Alexander books trilogy, Gold Edition, a weekend at the Greenwood Lake Rinne SPA Resort, and a Kinesis Gf_Ti titanium bike.

Finally, skydiving over the Rocky Mountains, Mindy's wedding in Lanzarote, a Chevy Volt, and summer vacations at Vila Bled, in Slovenia.

Weeks grew into months and still, Kimberly's world seemed to gravitate between her phone and her nighttime outings with her girlfriends, with an occasional pity sex session once a week after which Merrick stared at the ceiling in despair, wondering how his life could have become like this.

TWO TO MIDNIGHT

"Benny, fetch me some coffee, would you kindly?"

"Sir, there's coffee in the limo..."

"Real coffee, Benny."

"Yes, sir."

Merrick leaned against the hood of his polished Bentley, watching the chauffeur stroll toward the cafeteria at the back of the metal workshop building.

He had come to survey the repairs on his Dad's battered old Benetti Yacht, the Serene Dip Peeta, using it as an excuse to clear his head after yet another rejection from Kimberly to his request for a morning make out session.

"Chief Stroker, when do I get my engine's replacement parts?" Merrick yelled at one of the workers in dirty overalls at the bottom of the dry dock, who stood looking at the barnacles' handiwork on the elegant ship's hull.

"I've got my boys at the metal workshop working on them right now, boss, you'll have the jolly ole missus sailing back the ocean waves in no time," the rugged man yelled back.

"Good, keep at it." Merrick gestured the OK sign.

His eyes admired the old girl's lines, remembering happier days.

Seagulls flew overhead; there was a storm at sea.

Staring at the dark abyss of the murky bay waters, Merrick followed it along the coast line toward a pier slumbering in the distance,

An old, huge black man and his equally ancient Samoan companion stood thigh deep in the water beyond the shallow breakers, holding twin fishing rods.

'Dry dock retirees,' Merrick deduced.

The waves rocked gently the two old timers in their matching waterproof waders back and forth while they laughed, sharing memories of bygone times.

Merrick questioned their choice of fishing location, this close to the chemicals oozing off the docks, but then again they looked old enough to know what they were doing.

The muddy waters stared back at him as his mind drifted back to Kimberly. Could he ever win her back? Did he even want to?

His thirst for life had taken a steeper dive over the last months than the value of his company's stocks.

A fourteen, maybe fifteen years old Samoan girl crouched by the sea shore, surrounded by buckets and old newspapers, deftly cleaning a sturgeon. 'Interesting choice in After-School activities,' Merrick mused.

Shy, the girl averted her eyes as he approached her, drawn in by her skillful removal of the fish's entrails.

Her blackened eye and swollen cheek told a history of abuse.

"Ran into a door, have we?" Merrick smiled softly. She veered her face away in shame.

"Krav maga." The girl sniffled.

"Really? Now whose brilliant idea was that?" Merrick asked, curious.

"Grampa's," her head jerked toward one of the old fishermen goofing off in the water. "He promised it'd cure my shyness. 'Put some hairs on my chest.'"

"Well... did it?" Merrick was now as curious as he was amused.

"...it's a work in progress..." She sighed and Merrick was filled with sympathy. The girl looked almost as pathetic and defeated as him.

"There is only one cure to shyness," Merrick crouched next to the girl, entranced by the efficiency with which she grabbed a new sturgeon and proceeded to clean it up and gut with precision.

"Hunger; if you want something badly enough, you'll do anything to get it. What do you want the most in this whole wide world?"

"To pound that evil Korean girl's face through the mat," she snarled with her head tilted downward, "all the way down to the boiler room."

"Seems like a plan to me. Now, the question is... how badly do you want it?" He incited her with a malicious smile.

"Badly enough to eat her liver," the Samoan girl grinned, bending her head up toward him. Fire burnt in her eyes now.

"There you go. Stay hungry, kid."

"Vailea," she smiled back.

"Stay hungry, Vailea," he grinned, feeling his phone hum in his pocket.

"Go," he answered. It was Mindy, asking if he could move up his meeting at Dawson & Reid. "Yeah, it's all good."

Out on the water, one of the old fishermen shouted in delight, holding onto his fishing rod for dear life.

"You weren't really gonna jump, were you?" Vailea asked.

"What?" he looked at her surprised. She tilted her head toward the pier.

Merrick raised his eyebrows; how did she know?

"It's a talent, it runs in the family," she smiled. "It's not worth it, you know? Whatever it is that's going on. It's not worth it."

Merrick stared at the girl, wiser beyond her years, then at the dark waters that called to him.

She was right, it really wasn't.

"Yeah, you're probably right." He grinned. "Pound her face through the mat, Vailea."

"It's a deal," she smiled.

Izzy's old office at Dawson & Reid Manufacturing looked different.

The new CEO, Munir Al-Amin, had redecorated it with an afro-futurism theme. Merrick bristled, a year had passed.

A whole year wasted sulking over his failing marriage. Time sure flies when we're having fun.

"What is this, where is Munir?" Merrick asked his niece, noticing how nervous Mindy looked: "I was under the impression that we were meeting for a little tête à tête regarding our new strategies for the next quarter."

"He... he had a prior meeting at a subsidiary on the other side of town, may... maybe there's a traffic jam. Hey, but while you're here, T-Travis wanted to show you something," she stuttered.

Behind her, an attractive young man walked into the room carrying a laptop and a folder under his arm.

"Good evening, sir, it's a pleasure to meet you again." he smiled and Merrick recognized Mindy's new husband.

"Oh, yes, Trevor. It's good to see you."

"Travis, sir, Travis Maynard, I'm a junior R&D Data Analyst." Merrick returned him a bland smile; Mindy sure liked them cute, pretty boys. Then, guilt hit him, thinking of his cute, pretty wife sitting at home, sampling through the available menu of men on Tinder.

"Travis wanted to... well..." Mindy trailed off.

"I... m-made a report I wanted to show you regarding the potential of additive manufacturing in several subsectors we've branched into since UpNorth Miller took over, from electronic components to avionics parts."

Merrick's eyes flared up with anger, he had let himself fall victim to these two amateurs' ambush.

"I've read studies on the subject, young man, it's all fine and dandy for the production of small batches with centralized manufacturing, but on an industrial scale, the costs are prohibitive at this point," He cut the handsome young man off. "The raw material costs alone..."

"Pardon me, sir, but my report shows that the cost of raw materials could be reduced through economies of scale," Travis interrupted him, further hardening Merrick's expression. "And the production costs could be significantly reduced through increased automation and the adoption of complementary technologies."