The Contract

AS IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER THERE ARE NO SEX SCENES IN THIS CHAPTER, IF THAT’S YOUR BAG, PLEASE TRY ELSEWHERE

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Events ground on slowly over the month. The divorce was going through the system, the contract was up and running and Jim had found a flat and moved in. He still saw Jenny at weekends but never saw Janice at all. He asked Jenny how her mother was coping and Jenny refused to answer. She did not want to get drawn into their private war.

Three months after the first deliveries, the contract started to misfire. Pearson’s had rejected several deliveries as sub-standard and had withheld paying the one invoice submitted so far. Jim was mystified regarding the quality issues and after meeting with the Production Manager they decided to hold back one test sample from every batch delivered. They never told anyone of this new procedure and the issue seemed to be resolved.

Andy and Jake Pearson were in town for the first Quarterly contract review meeting.

The meeting was productive and the Jim assured them that they were taking steps to ensure the quality of the parts in future. Jake seemed to accept this but warned that any future problems could have serious consequences for the future of the contract.

This was a surprise to Jim as he had always thought that Andy was prime decision maker in Pearson’s and he realised he would need to re-evaluate the pecking order within Pearson’s. It was important he knew who was the prime decision maker within a client’s organisation, it would appear that judging on the preliminary discussions today, that Andy was not as powerful as he had first presented himself

When the business was concluded he asked Jim, “How about we take you and your beautiful wife out to dinner tonight?”

Jim was reluctant to discuss his problems with Andy, but simply told him “Janice and I have parted and are getting divorced. She found out that I had been unfaithful and threw me out!”

Andy sympathised and said, “I’m sorry to hear that, she does not forgive or forget easily, I know that from experience.”

Secretly he smiled to himself, he already knew about the separation, he had engineered the bust up himself by providing Jim with the opportunity to stray by setting him up with the girls. He could now put the next part of his plan into motion to get Janice back into his bed. He knew she would never succumb to him while still married to Jim, but with the divorce moving along, the door was now open for him to exploit the situation and he fully intended to take full advantage of it.

He started by sending her a sympathetic e.mail regarding her separation from Jim and followed this up with telephoning her once a week. By the time the next quarterly meeting came around, he was ready to implement the next step. He had persuaded her to go to dinner with him while he was in town. He felt things were progressing well on that front. The main issue at the review meeting would be the continuing quality issues and these would be high on the agenda.

He had instigated the complete hold on any payments citing the quality issues as the basis for this action. Prior to this meeting, Jim had requested that the faulty product should be returned to them for investigation and when they got them back, they were subjected to an in depth analysis and the results were scheduled to be ready in time for the meeting.

Jim and Jake both attended the meeting and things got very heated over the issue. Jim saw a side to Andy Pearson that he had never seen before. He was at his bully boy best and threatened to pull the plug on the contract. Jim managed to keep his cool and waited out the tirade. When Andy had finished with the statement that Pearson’s would not be paying any more invoices until the problem was resolved or alternative suppliers found, Jim stood up and calmly told him to shut up and listen.

He pulled out one of the rejected parts and said, “This is one of the parts you rejected, correct?”

Jake nodded and pointed out the Pearson’s QA reject tag attached.

“OK then,” said Jim, “We have been retaining a sample out of every batch we have delivered since the we first encountered the quality issue, this is the one from the batch that the reject purports to come from. We have had the two parts independently analysed. The metallurgy results prove that the two parts are from different alloys and it is our contention that the batch must have been switched after delivery to you. We have the consignment notes for each delivery, so we can prove that the problem was not of our making. I think you need to look at your own Goods Received process and determine where the substitution was made.”

Andy started to bluster, “What the fuck are you trying to pull, you have been supplying sub-standard parts to us and are now trying to wriggle out.”

Jake interrupted him and said firmly, “Can we have copies of your analysis results and the test piece from your last batch delivered to us? We will want to verify your results and if we do confirm your findings, I will ensure your outstanding invoices are paid immediately. Are you happy to proceed on this basis?”

Andy jumped to his feet and angrily interrupted any chance Jim had to respond by shouting, “No, I will not waste our time and money chasing down this fantasy.”

Jake said quietly but with authority, “I think you should sit down and we will discuss this matter in private, there are a few other side issues that I do not want to raise here. It’s best if we keep this as an internal matter for now. Now shut up, I don’t want to hear any more from you until we are in private.”

The authority was clear in his tone and Andy sat down fuming and said nothing more during the meeting.

Janice, of course, knew nothing of the events of the meeting. She was feeling upbeat and looking forward to a night out. She had not been out since her separation from Jim and the prospect of spending an evening with someone of the opposite sex had started her fantasizing about the chances of her getting fucked. She was finding it hard to stay objective about the prospect. The fact that she was going out with Andy Pearson added to her state of arousal. He was her first love and even with the history between them, she was half way to believing he had changed. Tonight would tell, she thought.

Andy Pearson was seething over the turn of events at the meeting. He had seriously underestimated Jim Adams! He wondered how the sneaky bastard had had the foresight to retain a sample of every batch. Still the situation was not totally screwed, there was nothing linking him to the product switch, the Warehousing Manager was the one who’s signature was on the delivery receipt and he had been careful not to commit anything in writing to him when he had set up the scam.

Still, the plan almost worked, another couple of weeks and with their banker’s clamouring for money, he could have forced them to the wall and acquired their business for next to nothing. The only other thing that really rankled was the way Jake had talked to him in the meeting. He had embarrassed him in front of a supplier and he would need to address the matter soon and show him who was the real boss of the company. As he prepared himself for his long awaited date with Janice, he pondered how far to push her this evening, was it too soon to pressure her into bed, or should he prolong the courtship a little longer?

He decided to let her set the pace and if she made the first move, then he would exploit the opportunity. She was still the best fuck he had ever had and the thought of getting her into his bed excited him. He briefly thought about making her organise a threesome with her and her daughter, but it was way too soon for that, though that prospect really set his libido twitching.

He turned up Janice’s house at seven prompt and was met by Jenny who invited him in. Jenny was also dressed to go out and was waiting on her boyfriend. She explained that her mother would not be long and sat beside on the settee. She asked him how she had met her mother and he gave her a brief account of their past history.

Jenny was intrigued, her mother had never struck her as one who would have sex outside marriage never mind having sex with two men together. She had heard her father’s accusation the night they had the bust up and her mother had not tried to deny it, so she the very idea of it had her curiosity aroused. Jenny was not a virgin, she had lost that when she was fifteen. Sex to her was something to be enjoyed and she briefly wondered what Andy would be like in bed. She felt herself start blushing at the thought.

Andy was watching Jenny carefully, he had noted her well developed breasts straining in the constrictions of her demure blouse and also noted the deep blush as it spread upwards from her cleavage to her neck and face. He could felt himself start to get an erection from just watching her, she was truly beautiful and without a thought about the consequences, he moved closer to her and taking her hand, slowly caressed her fingers and slowly moved his other arm around her waist.

God, she was hot, he thought and said teasingly, “Maybe we should just go out together and leave your boyfriend to your mother to look after, what do you say?”

Jenny was stunned, was he serious? Was he trying to pick her up? The thought sent her senses reeling, Jesus, he was old enough to be her father!

Before she could reply, his hand dropped onto he thigh and started to slide upwards. This brought her to her senses and she slapped his face hard and stood up shouting, “How dare you, I don’t even know you! You are too old for me and anyway you would not be able to handle me, even if I did fancy you.”

At that point Janice appeared and asked, “What is going on down hear, I thought I heard raised voices and was that a slap?

Jenny looked hard at her mother and said, “Your boyfriend just suggested we leave you and he and I go out together. Between that and trying to get his hand up my skirt a moment ago, I lost my temper and rejected his advances and slapped his face! I’ve got to say, I don’t think much of you choice of men to replace Dad.”

Janice could see from the guilty look on Andy’s face that her daughter was telling the truth and slowly shaking her head, she looked Andy straight in the eye and said, “I think you had better leave, don’t you. Leopards cannot change their spots and neither can you. I was almost ready to believe you had changed but thank god I found out in time. You really blew it again you stupid bugger. I was ready to give you another chance but not now, please leave.”

Andy started to protest and said, “It was her fault, she started to come on to me as soon as I came in the door. She even told me you wouldn’t object to the three of us getting together, just like the old days. You always liked three in a bed in those days, are you sure your spots have changed? I’m only sorry you found out about the gang bang before we had a chance to give it a try. I know you would have loved it, two cocks were never enough for you in those days!”

“Get out now!” Janice shouted, “Get out or I will call the police!”

At that point there was a knock at the door and Jenny ran and answered it. It was her boyfriend Sam. He was a tall young man and stood about six foot 6 tall. He said, “ I could hear you as I was coming up the path, I think you had better leave.”

Andy looked at him and realised that he was no match for a guy around 20 years younger and obviously in good shape, so he turned to Janice and snarled, “I am not finished with you yet, you have not heard the last of this!” With that he turned and stormed out the door.

Janice turned to Jenny and said, “I think I need to explain some things to you.” She turned to Sam and said, ”Please excuse us, I will be as quick as I can. Feel free to watch the TV, drinks are in the cabinet if you want one.”

Janice and Jenny went into the bedroom and left Sam to his own devices. They must have talked for about an hour before returning to the patiently waiting Sam.

After Jenny and Sam had gone out, Janice reflected on the mess her life was in. No husband, no company apart from Jenny and she decided she was missing having a man in her bed. Since she and Jim had separated, several of the men in her office had been sniffing around her, flirting with her and trying to see if she was amenable to their advances, after all she was fair game now. She was surprised that one of the men was a married man, but that did not deter him until she threatened to phone his wife and inform her of his behaviour to her.

Clearly her status had changed, she was now viewed as an available woman who must be missing having a man around. They were right, she thought, but she was not that desperate that she would spread her legs to just any man that approached her. She thought, if it happens, so be it, but she was not going to actively go out to get laid.

To be continued...