Read Recourse 2 (The Arrangement) Online
Authors: Amy Silva
Recourse 2 (The Arrangement)
CHAPTER 1
"Love must be as much a light, as it is a flame.” Henry David Thoreau
“So it is agreed, when they ask, Laura is your second cousin.” Chase fiddled with the butterfly on his tuxedo trying to adjust it in the front visor mirror of the Rolls Royce. His large muscular frame filled the tailored tux perfectly, his broad shoulders extenuating the wide back so much I wondered if he would be able to make it through door frames.
“On our mother’s side. I got it.” I smiled at Amy who was quieter than usual tonight. Her beautiful, long legs stretched from under the black silk dress. She seemed to be born in it, as it hug her full figure perfectly. She stayed silent as her hands briefly clenched.
“You OK?” Chase looked back at us.
“Yeah.” Amy sagged back in the seat, “I’m just not looking forward to all the schmoozing.”
“Just think of it as introducing Laura around to a new world.” Chase licked his lips, smiling. “Stay polite and friendly like the girls you are, I will try to wrap up things on my end as soon as I can.”
“Good luck with that.” Amy smirked. “I am sure they will grill you for hours.”
“Not this time.” Chase grinned back, showing off his perfectly white pearls. “I can finally hide behind the confidentiality agreement. I’ll be like a politician pleading the fifth, no comments made.”
“Anticipating a barbecue?” My eyes narrowed.
“His new baby, Matrox. They are the first company in the world who’ve been able to slow down aging using stem cells. It’s getting incredible amount of attention. So will he.” She nodded towards the front seat.
“To be fair I just cover the funding and help direct it,” He shook his head, “The scientists are the real heroes, but it is quite dear to me since it finally returned concrete results.” Chase lit up with a satisfied smile.
“No kidding?” I my eyes widened. “It actually works?”
“The report just came back saying it does,” said Amy, “Everyone in Silicon Valley is going nuts trying to get a piece of the action.” She brushed a piece of lint from Chase’s shoulder, “And our man here has got the whole pie because he believed in the company from day one.”
“Rather be lucky than good.” His laugh boomed back. He looked up at the rear view mirror and caught me staring back at him. We held our connected gaze a few moments longer than either one of us expected, as I felt a rush of heat start deep within my abdomen and rise up, awakening the butterflies in my stomach. My ears started to burn as I gently bit my lip and looked away, remembering vividly those deep blue eyes gaping back from between my thighs.
Chase cleared his throat, “Amy, if Charles or Loushen start asking anything, you have no idea.”
“I’d rather not see either one of them,” She shook her head and looked over to me, “Two big investors that compete with Chase. One is ruthless and will climb over your dead body to get what he wants.” She shook her head, “The other, worse.”
“Good to know we’ll be in good company.” I raised my eyebrows.
“The sharks with the biggest teeth.” Chase said. “Charles comes from old money. Unfortunately he hadn’t learned to appreciate the value of working slow and steady to get results, so he jumped head first into investing and buying up companies to prove something to his dad.” His voice lowered, “Famous for his aggressive takeovers and being ruthless when he smells something big in the air.”
“Let me guess, Matrox has a fresh scent?” I tilted my head to the side.
Chase narrowed his eyes. “Since the first whiff he hasn’t been able to think of anything else.” He paused and narrowed his eyes, “But I am more worried about the other one. This Pierre Loushen comes out of nowhere five years ago, and starts buying up everything in sight. Smart too, does his homework. Within three years, one of the best portfolios in the valley.”
Amy turned back from the window. “Is it true they still have no idea who is backing him?”
Chase tightened his lips, “His lawyers are protecting his money source like it’s Fort Knox. There are some rumors of a large benefactor from overseas.” He lifted his hand up and shook his finger. “All I know is this guy was working a desk job in London ten years ago, and now he’s worth a fortune.”
“May be he won the British version of the power ball.” I said trying to lighten the mood.
“He can win it five times in a row, he can’t have any of my pie. Matrox will change the world forever.”
“Almost here.” Amy pointed to the lights shining through the wall of carefully trimmed bushes. The evening clouds above were illuminated in soft yellow tones of the commotion on the other side.
The road veered left and became a long circular driveway. The large stone fountain in the middle was carved with mermaids who held up the spewing vases. My eyebrows crawled up as I looked over the line of cars outside straight off the pages of luxury magazines. Black, red, white, the Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Bentleys glossed in the mansion lights. The excited couples dressed in long black dresses and sharp tuxedos flocked towards the majestic, golden leafed front doors. My eyes turned into saucers as my mouth dropped when I took at the mansion. Five stories of light brown brick with blue castle peaks and impressive columns to each side of the main entrance glass work that stretched all the way to the third floor and shined bright from the lights inside. It easily took up a city block. The giant, half rounded glass windows on the first and second floors lit up in the night with the golden shine. The ball rooms stretched for what seemed like forever as the giant chandeliers illuminated the people animatedly chattering inside. Hundreds of them, they contributed to the buzzing and the accompanying sounds of glasses ringing to various toasts. The murmur was helped along by the soft music that came from the orchestra somewhere inside.
We parked the car by the front and emerged with polite smiles already plastered across our faces. They were immediately returned by the passers-by as we walked towards the party.
“Oh, I almost forgot.” Chase squeezed our arms as he walked in between Amy and I. “I have a little present for you girls when we get back.”
We raised our eyebrows in unison and studied his smirking face as he avoided our eyes and looked straight ahead. A smile ghost of a smile ran across his lips, “No hints, but you will love it. Make sure to save energy for later.”
CHAPTER 2
Amy and I were all smiles and bored out of our minds. She found a moment to escape the dozens of people who came over to congratulate her on her husband’s success while causally mentioning they would be thrilled to do lunch or dinner. I was at awe at this woman. She was just the right amounts of gracious, polite, kind and deadly stunning. Her movement was delicate yet supplemented by the cat like instincts as she moved around the room. I felt more like a farm girl as I tried to keep up and find things to say. “A designer. Yes, from New York. No, not the fashion kind. Nothing that you would know. It
is
true that company spent $20,000 on a logo that looked like a stick figure playing with himself.”
The thick black maze of astronomically expensive tailored decadence buzzed around us in the night. Amy twisted her body and turned and quickly ducked as her widened eyes met mine just below my face.
“Crap, I just saw Loushen!” she whispered. “Did he see us?”
My eyes scanned the room behind her. “What does he look like?”
“At your eleven. Tall and thin with caved in cheeks, big nose, and ruffled black hair. Red butterfly.”
“I see him.” I nodded. “He isn’t looking over here.”
“Good,” she exhaled and gave me a playful grin, “Let’s escape while we still can.”
She took my left hand and crept by me, turning me around to follow. She lead us through the tall opening accented by greek statues on each side. At least I figured they were Greek from the leafs covering their privates. We turned right and saw stairs to the second floor.
“Let’s see if we can get a better view.” Amy stepped forward.
The second floor overlooked the main lobby, and opened up to a long hall to the left, and a big red wood door to the right of us. I took a step left as Amy held my hand firmed and pulled it back, “I am curious what’s behind door number two.” Amy wiggled her eyebrows and placed her slender hand on the handle. The door parted with a loud pop, Amy waited and a few moments later inched it open. Peeking inside, she whispered, “It’s too dark, I can’t see a thing,” and then parted it more and disappeared inside. A moment later her hand emerged from the other side as she motioned for me to follow.
I shook my head and stepped into the darkness. Amy closed shut the door behind me, as I felt the goose bumps blast down my back, the tiny hairs standing up and poking into my dress. I looked around the room as my eyes started to adjust to the dark. Through the two big windows the light outside covered just enough of the room to make out the large desk and the many shelves around the room. A big globe stood in one corners, one of those made from all stone, with shiny golden lines running along the countries’ borders. I put my hand on the cold surface and slowly tried to turn it. It’s heavy mass obeyed and smoothly rotated on the axis.
“This must Loushen’s office.” Amy whispered as she stood bent over the desk. “There is a picture of him with some guy on a yacht.”
“We should get out of here.” I walked over. “This wouldn’t be a good look for Chase.”
Amy turned over a couple of papers on the desk. “I wish there was something useful here.” She made her way over to the window after studying the photos on the walls. Her mouth stretched in a smile as she pointed outside. “I think I see our man.”
I joined her and looked out. There was gathered a decent size crowd after spilling over from the party inside. By the crystal blue pool, a dense half circle of people crowded around a broad shouldered guy as he animatedly used his hands to convey something. A moment later the crowd erupted in unified laughter.
“He sure looks like a million bucks.” I said wistfully feeling my nerve endings tingle.
“A billion.” She shot me a playful grin and leaned back from the glass. “Let’s go get him.”
We crept to the door and a minute later joined Chase outside.
“How’s the inquisition?” I looked into his blue eyes when we got a chance to free ourselves from the crowd and got more
champagne
while Amy played blocker.
“They’re eating up the charm and letting me get away with saying as little as possible.” He smiled and looked at his watch. “Oh, but they’re time is officially up. Let’s go get Amy. We should hurry not to miss the real fun.”
CHAPTER 3
“Go ahead, open your eyes.” Chase’s smile could be heard in his voice.
I opened mine and studied the large living room as it was before we left. The large plush leather couch to one side, the marble coffee table in front of it. A few luxuries form fitting chairs by the large outside window. There was one thing different, a black saddle like seat sat on the soft carpet in the middle of it.
“Chase, you didn’t!” Amy gasped and let go off his hand, taking a few steps forward.
“I figured this would be a good occasion.” He smiled and turned to me. “Go check out your new toy.”
I wet my lips and walked over to Amy who knelt down and started studying the surprise. As I peered over her shoulder I saw a small upside down pear shape protruding up from the center of the seat. My eyebrows lifted to my hairline. “Is this what I think it is?”
“Have you ever ridden a Sybian?” Amy ran her hand along the black leather and up to the white rubber attachment. She looked up and smiled. “It makes women have multiple orgasms.”
“I’ve heard of it, but never seen one in person.” I put my finger on the impressive attachment, it felt soft yet firm.
“It is supposed to be incredible.” Amy eyes sparkled. “It both vibrates and rotates, and there is a way to adjust…”
She searched around the seat for something.
“Looking for this?” Chase boomed as he pulled a small black box from behind his back. He held it out in front. Amy’s eyes lit up as she got up and reached out her arm.
He pulled his hand back, “I will be the maestro. Who wants to go first?”
Amy turned her head and looked at my with her emerald eyes that filled with excitement. She nodded towards the Sybian. “I wouldn’t mind.” I cleared my throat.
Chase curled his lips in a playful smile, “That’s the spirit. Giddy up.”
I rubbed my chin as I lowered my eyes, “I think I need a drink first.”
“I know what you need.” Amy walked up to me and put her hands on my face. She leaned in and I felt her soft moist lips on mine. The passion of the kiss spread from the lips to my face and then down my body. Amy kept her warm mouth upon mine and ran her hand up on the undercarriage of my breast.