######################
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Some folks (on and offline) have complained about Ameia dying. A friend whined strongly about it when I told her that, yes, I really did kill her.
She demanded that I bring her back. And, for some reason, my brain worked its way to an alternative ending to Part 2 - and this is the result. This starts from the cruise ship scene toward the end of Page 22.
Spoiler: AJ doesn't get to have two gorgeous women pleasuring him simultaneously or sharing him with joy.
I hope y'all like it.
######################
AJ laughed as Sharana completed her case for why he should speak to Dr. Alison Lisser to allow her and three of her friends to retake her quiz.
Then he looked at her squarely in her earnest and beautiful face and shook his head. "No, Shari. Hell, no."
He laughed again as she pushed out her lip, trying to sulk. "Big deal. So you got a B..."
"A B-minus, Uncle AJ!" she whined. "Mom is gonna kill me!"
"So?" he shrugged. "It's just a quiz. You can make up for it. Get a good grade for the whole class."
"But...!"
"And I like my head exactly where it is," he continued, thinking of the fierce and accomplished woman the former Alison Jong-Park had grown up to be. "I don't want it bitten off."
Shari looked at him in disbelief. "That's bullshit, Uncle AJ. She crazy loves you!"
He raised an eyebrow, amused. "And you think that would stop Alison? Heck, that would just make her pay
more attention
to you."
He chuckled as a look of horror came upon his niece's face. "She'll probably make you one of her 'special projects.'"
"Umm..." Sharana got up quickly. "On second thought, don't say anything..."
AJ sighed, shifting his eyes away, wondering when she got so grown and why girls her age seemed to think the less coverage the better. "Does your Dad know about this swimsuit?"
She looked around guiltily, as if her father was suddenly going to appear from his room. She pouted again. "Uncle AJ!"
"Get a T-shirt and keep it on unless you're going in the water. Then it goes back on," he ordered, voice firming up. "And I mean a non-see-through-even-when-wet T-shirt. Clear?"
She kept her lip stuck out but she nodded.
He pointed at his cheek and she sniffed. But she still went over to drop a soft kiss on his cheek.
"I love you, Uncle AJ," she said, still sulking.
"Love you too, Shari," AJ responded. "T-shirt. Now."
Ben and Telana's daughter sniffed again and stalked off.
AJ leaned back in his chair, grinning, as he read from the roll-out tablet, catching up on his messages. He had another from the twins demanding his input on the acquisition of a particularly innovative 3D modelling suite by some prodigy, coded exclusively with AX3+.
Ethan and Nathan were still focused on games, aware and vigilant but not really interested in the other applications of their platform. Their gaming focused GMAX offshoot had most of their attention.
GMAX was worth 4.87 billion already and AJ owned twenty-two percent. He tapped in what he thought - buy, and keep the owner onboard - and sent it to them.
Then he opened the just arrived pictures of James and his Lebanese wife Hala with his two nephews, and their mother on a beach - already in St. Kitts. He smiled as he noticed the swell of Hala's belly under her wrap; his big brother was making up for lost time. The relationship with the NGO administrator collapsed a long time ago, especially when she somehow got married and yet still expected them to continue sleeping together whenever they were in the same location.
His mother looked happy, and he knew Joe was likely taking the picture. He smiled as he read James' message about getting tired of his wife and mother gossiping about him in Arabic.
His own four children had spent enough time in Doha with their grandmother that they could navigate the language. His oldest two, his daughter Ameia and son Ricardo - after his late Battalion member - were at school, but his two younger boys - Donny and Gary, both on a break from their construction site holiday jobs - were onboard.
He sobered as he rolled the tab back up.
He had recognized both women, instantly. Neither had changed much. With his eyes behind his shades, he knew they would doubt that he had seen them beat a hasty retreat at the sight of him.
'
Still best friends
', he thought.
He sighed. Knowing fate's sense of humor, it was inevitable that they were going to run into each other, even on the massive Queen of the Tropics.
Taking two entire decks for the extended family cruise had sounded like a fun idea, but he hadn't counted on every person under twenty thinking he was the guy who could solve their problems with girls, boys, parents, school and career plans.
He had somehow found himself caught in a watergun fight the day before and then being cajoled into refereeing a water polo match. Randall had thankfully stepped in, and the game had been a very polite and peaceful affair under his stern and watchful eye.
Until his grandson had pushed him into the pool. Sarah had been in hysterics beside Greta and Mike, who had doubled up in laughter as Randall emerged from the water, cursing, trying and ultimately failing not to laugh as he futilely chased after the boy.
Dinner on the deck had been a noisy affair with everyone having something to say. Pam sat at the head of the table, beside Ben, taking the place of his departed father, gossiping with Petra, Debra and her sister, surrounded by their children and grandchildren.
Julia was gone, but her grandchildren and great-grandchildren down where the younger cohort were gathered were just as loud as their late great-grandmother had been.
The older men, Bill, Randall, Mike, Fred, Lenny, Jason and Prakesh played cards and gossiped too, though they preferred to call it 'discussing.'
This was the fifth year since Don passed, and everyone missed the drama of Pam feigning jealousy and outrage at him dancing with and teasing all the girls. Except when Alison, on her first trip, in University and all of twenty then, had matched him for every ludicrous pick up line, leaving him dumbfounded and everyone in hysterics.
Pam had fallen, laughing helplessly against the previously painfully shy Henry Lisser, a military officer now and Alison's husband. Kevin Mayns, now the 'Grand Imperator' of the Tech Legion, and CEO of his own robotics company had literally rolled on the floor.
But Don was not the only one missing.
"Uncle AJ!" he heard, snapped out of his reverie. He sighed as Rhea, Mike and Greta's fifteen year old daughter stomped over.
______________________________
It turned out his premonition was correct. The inevitable meeting happened the next morning.
He was back at the same table, having breakfast, scrolling through the tablet, having explained how the new character creator worked on the GMAX platform to Liga's son.
Then he had seen Danny Moore, and Maya Jakande, furtively walking together, visibly trying hard to resist taking each other's hands. He strongly suspected Femi and Marina were not aware of the budding romance.
His investment in Cindy Moore's milkshake business had paid off tremendously even as Jonathan had expanded his own fusion restaurant into an institution in Sutton. She and Bellie had become so close over the years that they had become 'Aunt' to each other's children.
His wife had been too tired from the previous night's 'activity' to be woken up any time before noon. The scarves had been meant for him, but he had turned the tables and secured her in place. She had sworn and made threats as he brought out the flavored lubricant and her favorite 'toy.' Her eyes had gone wide and she started to plead when he clicked it on and it started to hum.
"I'm going to scream," she had warned him at last. Tied up, her legs were spread wide, nipples hard on her still upward pointing breasts, her slit visibly wet as she stared at him approaching, helpless.
"That is the idea, Mrs. Smith..." he had intoned.
She had indeed screamed. But the stateroom was soundproofed so no one but her husband heard her. He had ruthlessly used his tongue, his fingers, the little vibrating wand on her quivering body. By the time he was hammering away on top of her, she had soaked the sheets beneath her, and she was clutching at him for all she was worth as she called out his name.
He was adjusting himself at the memory when her shadow fell across him, snapping him back to the present.
"Hello, AJ." She had aged well, though her eyes held an understandable wariness to them.
"Hey, Sheila," he answered.
"You saw us yesterday, didn't you?"
He smiled slightly. "Yes."
"Can... can I sit?" Sheila's hands shook.
"Sure," he said, gesturing to the chair opposite. "Please."
She sat.
He removed his shades. "How's the judge?" he asked. Clara had been elevated to the appellate bench after just three years at the district level.
"She's still sleeping in our room," Sheila said. "I woke up in the middle of the night, and she was... she was crying."
He looked at her face, remembering her sitting in witness. "I'm sorry to hear that."
"Are you?" Sheila asked. "Are you, really?
He shrugged. "I let go of all that a long time ago. Is she going to be okay?"
"Yes," Sheila said. Then she met his eyes. "It's because of you. You should know that."
He said nothing.
Tears sprang from Sheila's eyes and she looked away. "I... I cried too."
He said nothing, because he didn't know what to say. So he waited for her to gather herself.
"I came here," she continued, at last, "to apologize to you. For what we did. For what
I
did. I pushed her... I pushed her to do it. To go for it at every step."
AJ shrugged. "I know. You were always her sounding board. And he was your boss."
"We're cousins," she revealed.
"I see," AJ hadn't known that. Not that it mattered.
"When I saw them look at each other that first day," she continued, "I should have told her to stay away. I should have told her she was married to a great guy and she shouldn't fuck it up."
"You shouldn't have had to," AJ pointed out, calm, cold. "She should have known that on her own."
She looked away again. "Well, I didn't help. I was caught up in the '
romance
' of it. I... I thought they looked '
