Relationships...

Relationships. Greg Jackson hung up the connection at the end of the call. He looked across the table at his boss, a tall and incredibly attractive Amazonian woman who was a huge success in all the business dealings that she had ever got into. She had made her first million by the age of 25, and now, at her late 30’s (Greg was guessing – he still didn’t know the exact figure) she was worth a lot more. “Greg, my friend, it’s time to break out the champagne!” They were both smiling. It had been a hard hour for them both, but a good phone call, and they knew that they were each now about two million pounds richer than they were at the start of the call. “Josie, that will be my pleasure.” He smiled and moved to the side table and fiddled with the top, popping the cork and filling the glasses. They had been pre-set there, while they both hoped that the deal would go their way. He gave her a glass and they held them up, clinked them and said “Cheers!”. Downing the whole glass wasn’t difficult. “Greg, come on, we’re done. It’s 4pm and it’s Friday. It’s time to go and get drunk.” “Well, I don’t mind if I have a couple, but don’t keep me out late. I have to be back by…oh, what is it? Oh yes, 9 am, Monday morning!” She laughed. “Oh shut up, you silly sod.” She stopped and looked at him. “Greg, we’ve done it. We have cracked one of the biggest banks in the country – they have come to us! We are good for the next five years on this deal alone!” She looked at him, and wondered whether she should, and then decided that she could. She put the champagne glass down and went up close to him. “Greg, you little star you. Come here.” She put her arms around him, leant into him and gave him a kiss. Not a cheek-to-cheek kiss but a full on the mouth kiss. He didn’t resist. He knew her well enough to know that they had fancied each other for the last couple of months, but they had both been so busy lining up this latest deal that they had put everything else aside, including their private life. She came away, and he started to joke “Why Josie, I didn’t…” but she cut him off. “Greg, we have the weekend. Let’s go out and celebrate now. I fancy a few drinks. Then we go back to my place and you make me very happy to have met you.” He actually coughed at that. Spluttered, more like. “Josie, I like you, and I’m pretty sure that you like me, but don’t go surprising me like that. I’m a good bit older than you” he went into joke mood again “and I’m not sure my heart can stand the strain.” She looked at him, wondering if she should slap him for being stupid or kiss him again for being nice. She hadn’t met too many nice men in the past. She had a daughter, now approaching 21, from a short-lived relationship. She was as strong-willed as she was, and it was sometimes painful for them both to be in the same room, or even the same house. That had come from a very stressful relationship, that had not ended well, at all. “Greg, let’s call it a day. We go, now, to the local Chinese, we have a couple of hours there, and then we can go our separate ways if you insist. Let’s see what happens, shall we?” He chuckled. He came up to her, and put his arms around her waist. He noticed that she didn’t resist at all. “Josie, I’m kidding. I’m all yours for the night.” He smiled at her, and she smiled back. This was going to be a good evening, and if they were lucky a good night too. The morning could wait. They cleaned up the office, put their coats on and left. The Chinese restaurant was only five minutes walk away, and they walked in and were seated immediately. There were very few customers at that time. They didn’t feel like rushing, so they sat and looked at the menus and each other for the first few minutes. Josie ordered a very expensive white wine, after checking that Greg liked it, too. They ordered the start of the food, and had their first drink, all the while looking at each other, across the table. “OK, Josie. We have done a good thing today." He grew more expansive. "Hell, we have done a great thing today! I am inclined to sit here for a while, drinking this very fine wine, and looking at you. That will make for a very delightful evening for me. What we do afterwards? Well, let’s wait and see, shall we? I should ask, is your daughter staying with you? I’ve lost track of whether she’s at home or away somewhere.” “She’s at home. She rarely gets in my way, so don’t expect too much from her over the weekend.” She felt her shoulders sag a bit. “We don’t often see eye to eye, so we tend to be avoiding each other, except when we can’t. She has her room, on the floor above, and we rarely bump into each other.” “Fair enough, just so long as I know what to expect, I suppose.” The evening continued, and they talked, and they talked, and Josie did most of the talking. Greg had never seen her this drunk before, and he prided himself on being able to hold some of his own in drinking competitions, but this woman could pack it away! She started on the second bottle, while Greg was only finishing his second glass. He could see that this wasn’t going to be a well-planned evening. Three hours later, and three bottles later, Josie was smashed. Greg was merry, but in control. “Josie, I think we need to get a taxi, and get you home.” She giggled. “Oh, Greg, stop it. That’s get us home.” She giggled again. He had to hold her upright, but they got their gear and their coats, and Greg’s ever-present laptop, and went outside. There was a steady flow of traffic, and it only took a few seconds for a taxi to be flagged down. It was a short journey, which was a perk of being very rich and living in the middle of the city. They fell out of the taxi, Josie still giggling away, and Greg having his work cut out to stop her collapsing. He got the house keys from her and they entered the house. He had to pump her for the alarm key number, which proved quite difficult, but he managed to turn it off before the police turned up. Since Greg had never been there before he didn’t know the layout and he had to keep pumping Josie for where anything was. She was very vocal, and Greg wondered where her off switch was. They made it up the first flight of stairs and he managed to get both of them into her bedroom. Greg could see that she was still well-nigh helplessly drunk and it was as much as he could do to get her to go into the bathroom and get ready for bed. She fell asleep twice while she was sat on the toilet and it took a lot of self control from Greg not to lose his patience with her. She was finally ready for bed, and although she still had her bra and knickers on she was too vocal for her own good. She almost fell into bed with a sleepy “Come on Greg, it’s time to make me …” and then her voice trailed off. She had fallen asleep as her head had made contact with the pillow. Greg looked at her, knowing full well that she was going to wake with a hell of a headache in the morning. He pulled the duvet up to cover her and quietly left the room, already resigned to sleeping downstairs on the settee. He went downstairs, feeling remarkably awake. He worked out that he had actually only drunk around three glasses of a very fine wine, whereas Josie had polished off close to three bottles by the time they had finished at the restaurant. He knew that he was a good few years older than she was – was he actually old enough to be her father? – so he knew that he wasn’t going to be taking advantage of her in any sexual way – at least not tonight. Let her sleep it off, and we’ll see what the morning brings. He was under no illusions that he needed to rush things. At his age he could wait another few hours. He found the settee and arranged the cushions around so that he was as comfortable as he could be. He opened the laptop and looked into some of the paperwork for the day's events. It had been an amazing last few months, where this project got closer and closer to the finishing line, and what had taken place today was just exceptional. He had been there for around an hour, and had decided that it all worked – all the maths, the figures they all added up – when he heard a disturbance from the front door. Since he doubted that Josie was up yet, he wondered if it was her daughter. He had been told very little about her, other than Josie and she clashed quite often – like minds don’t attract. He waited, to see what would happen, and he was more than a little surprised when a naked auburn-haired female walked into the lounge and sat down in the only other piece of furniture. To say that she was attractive was putting it mildly. She was clearly closely related to Josie, and perhaps a little taller. She had an amazing figure, and was obviously happy with walking around what was her home with no clothes on. It was only after she had sat down that she noticed Greg. There was a fleeting couple of seconds between them, where they each sized up the other. Greg was old enough to be her grandfather, and he was determined that he wasn’t going to get flustered by this. She, on the other hand, was surprised to find this handsome man in the lounge, and wasn’t quite sure how to react. “Oh, hi. Who the hell are you?” she demanded, making no attempt at running away or hiding her nakedness. He smiled at her. “Greg. I work with your mother.” She snorted “Good luck with that one. Is she home?” “Yes. We had a very important business meeting today, which we won, and we did a bit of celebrating afterwards. She’s upstairs at the moment, I hope sleeping off the hangover.” He raised an eyebrow “Hang on. She’s drunk?” He nodded. “I am sorry to say, yes, she is. I think she’ll be fine in the morning, but she may need an aspirin or something.” “No, you don’t understand. She never gets drunk – well, that’s not true. She was last drunk when my father left, around 15 years ago. She hasn’t been near the booze ever since." She stopped and looked at this stranger. "She must really like you. She never lets her hair down with anyone.” Greg took that on board and reassessed his position with Josie. “You should know that I like your mother, but what she and I get up to is between her and me.” “So, did you have your wicked way with her yet?” “No, and I have no intention of having my ‘wicked way’ with someone who can’t even stand up straight.” He realised that he’d been cross when he said that last bit, but this daughter was being very rude to him, since they had only met less than 5 minutes ago. “Easy, tiger. She’s met some dogs in the past. I want to know what you are, that’s why I asked.” “What, so you look after your mother?” “Someone has to. And there’s another thing. I’m sat here with nothing on, and you haven’t moved. Are you gay or something? Why haven’t you made a pass at me yet?” Greg was rapidly becoming bored with this conversation. She clearly had other reasons for engaging in this war of words, and Greg wasn’t sure that he wanted to play. “Excuse me a moment.” He took out his mobile phone, and dialled a local taxi firm that he knew. A familiar voice answered. “Hi, Sammy, it’s Greg. I’m at a friend’s house. Can you send someone to pick me up and take me home?” He gave the address. “I will be out of your way in 10 minutes. I suggest that you watch television until I’m gone. After that, I don’t care what you do.” She was genuinely confused “Greg, what are you doing? Why are you leaving? I don’t want you to go, and I’m pretty sure that my mother won’t want to ask me where you’ve gone or why you’ve left before she was awake.” Getting more than a little cross he tersely said “You should have thought of that before you decide to start insulting me. I work very well with your mother. That doesn’t mean that I have to put up with you.” He got up from the settee and put the laptop away. “I’m sure that you can make some excuse to your mother in the morning. It’s a fine evening. I’ll wait outside.” He walked to the front door and let himself out. He made sure that he had put Josie’s keys down first. He went a few steps down towards the road, and decided that he would wait on the low wall. He had been there for 5 minutes when he heard the front door open. He didn’t want to get started in any more conversations with Josie’s daughter so he stood up, intending to walk away from the house. “Greg?” It was Josie. He turned to see her at the front door, with a dressing gown thrown around her. She looked really rough. “Greg, what are you doing?” He was tempted to walk away, but how do you walk away from someone like Josie? He walked slowly towards her, intending to have a short conversation, and hoping that the taxi would turn up soon. “Josie, I made sure that you were as safe as you could be, and tucked up in bed. I went downstairs and went through some of the paperwork from this meeting. I have met your daughter, and I thought it was best that I go home, as I feel that she doesn’t want me in the house. I would have called you in the morning.” She had a confused I’m-still-drunk look on her face. “What happened, after we got back here? Did we..do anything?” He smiled. “I had trouble getting you upstairs, but you went to the bathroom, and I eventually got you into your bed, where you promptly fell asleep. I was expecting you to sleep the night away.” “So we didn’t…?” “No. We didn’t. Why are you up, Josie?” “It’s Frankie, she came to see that I was OK, and she woke me up. She said that you were going to your home. Greg, why, what’s happened? Why are you leaving?” He looked back at the house. “Your daughter can be exceptionally rude, and I was not prepared to put up with it. I’ve told you. If you are awake enough to take it in, then I expected you to sleep the night away. I did not want to get into a fight with your daughter, so I decided to leave.” “Greg, I don’t understand. Come back. Please? Put the coffee on, and let’s talk about this. She likes you, she doesn’t want you to go. Hell, I don’t want you to go. Greg, please come back. My head isn’t screwed on properly yet, so I’ll need a paracetamol or something, but I’ll be OK in a half-hour.” He was wondering what to do when the taxi pulled up. “Taxi for Greg” the driver called out. Should he go or should he stay? He then walked over to the taxi and put a ten pound note in the driver’s hand. “I’m sorry to mess you about, but I think my luck might have changed.” “A tenner? Hang on, I’ll get you some change. I was only a local stop-off.” “Leave it. Thanks for turning up.” “Cheers, mate!” and the taxi drove off. “OK, Josie, let’s see what happens. I’ll put the kettle on, you take the paracetamol.” As they walked back through the front door he asked “Does your daughter always walk around with nothing on?” “Frankie? Oh, hell. Yes. I’m sorry, I should have thought to mention that.” “Yes, maybe you should have. It was a bit of a surprise – not a shock, just a surprise. She is very attractive, your daughter. She takes a lot of that from you, I suppose.” He was relaxing again. The tension had moved away. He sent Josie into the lounge while he went into the kitchen and sorted the kettle out. While it was starting to boil he went into the lounge and saw Frankie in the same armchair, still with nothing on. Josie was on the settee, with the dressing gown still badly draped around her. “Josie, tell me. If Frankie walks around the house with nothing on, what do you do? Are you the same or do you always dress up?” She answered slowly. “I tend to have nothing on, either. It’s just the two of us. What do we have to hide from each other?” “And yet here you are with your dressing gown on, and Frankie with nothing on. What would you rather I do? Keep my clothes on or take them off? If I am staying the night I’d just like to know.” Josie and her daughter looked at each other, and both shrugged. Neither had been in this situation before, so they didn’t really know how to respond. “I have my gown on because of you, and because I went outside! Otherwise…” she trailed off, and Greg filled in some gaps. “Well, I’d appreciate it if someone would tell me. If I take all my clothes off, do I do it here or do I have to wait until I get upstairs with you, Josie?” She was beginning to lose her cool. “Greg, go and make the damned coffee! And find me a paracetamol. They’re in the medicine cabinet. Frankie, go and help him out - please!” They went into the kitchen, and he started to get the instant coffees poured. Frankie knew where the medicines were and found the right pills straightaway. They then brought the drinks back into the lounge. Josie took the pills, and a swig of the coffee. Greg knew how hot it was so he was impressed as she didn’t even flinch. “Greg, come on. This time you are coming to bed with me.” She got up, took Greg’s hand, and walked them up the stairs. “Frankie, do whatever you damn well want!” They got to the bedroom, and she shook the gown off, removed her bra and panties and got into bed. Greg was impressed, and started to undress himself, all the while realising that little was going to happen for a few hours. Sure enough, by the time he was undressed she had gone back to sleep. He sneaked into the bathroom and freshened up. He crept back out and quietly slipped into bed, and was more than a little surprised when Frankie popped her head around the door with “Are you guys OK? Mind if I join you?” Without waiting for an acceptance she went around the bed and slipped in beside Greg, forcing him into the middle. It was a big bed so it could take all three easily. “Mind telling me what you are doing? If your mother wakes up what is she going to say?” he whispered. “Oh, she’ll be fine. She’ll be asleep for a few hours anyway.” With that she put her hand straight onto his private parts which made Greg jump. “You and I have some business to attend to. After me then I think you’ll need to attend to my mother.” She was smiling, and Greg was confused. He reached down and removed her hand. “I don’t think so. I am here to keep your mother company, not you. Go back to your room, or I leave again!” he hissed. She reluctantly slipped out of bed and left the room. Greg breathed a sigh of relief, as he was now quite tired and wanted to sleep. He lay on his back and shut his eyes, and snored quietly within a minute. It had been a long day. They both slept, one the sleep of the drunk and the other the sleep of exhaustion. Greg woke up to see Josie walk into the room with a tray with some breakfast bits on it. Had he been that tired? “Good morning, sleepyhead.” She said. “I’d say rise and shine but it’s raining, so there’s not much to shine about.” She moved towards Greg and put the tray down. “I don’t know what you fancy for brekky so I made a mix of toast and coffee.” She went around to her side of the bed, threw off her gown and slipped in between the sheets. “And a good morning to you, too. It’s been quite an interesting last 24 hours. I need to update you on one or two things.” “Really? Apart from you nearly leaving, what did I miss?” “What sort of relationship do you have with your daughter, for a start. After you’d got back to bed I joined you, but then so did she. That was something I didn’t anticipate. I think she expected me to look after her, sexually, and then look after you. Once you’ve got your head around that, perhaps you’d like to explain it to me?” "Ah. Yes. Sorry about that. What sort of relationship? I don't know how to answer that, as we have not really had much of a relationship at all. She hasn't seen me with another man in years - maybe ten, maybe longer. I don't think she has yet been with a man because I have been such a screwed-up-tight sort of mother. She is genuinely surprised at you being here. Yes, she and I walk around the house, most of the time with nothing on, because we are not trying to impress anyone - there's just the two of us." "I think you are avoiding answering what I'm probably bad at asking. You and I haven't done anything yet except been good business partners for the last few years. It's changed now, in that I am here in bed with you, even though nothing has happened yet. Are you expecting me to go to bed with your daughter, or not? It's a simple enough question, surely?" "Oh, dammit, I don't know! We are both free spirits and neither of us holds ties over the other. Are you saying that you would, if she offered?" "I don't know. I can't say yes and I can't say no. I certainly haven't had my way with you, as you were well and truly hammered last night. You seem to have recovered well, I might add." "Oh, sod it. Come on, you, let's go for a swim!" "Where the hell are we going swimming? I don't know of any pools around here." "Listen, you. I need to walk you around this house, and show you the details. There's one in the basement. Not big but big enough. Come on!" She was out of the bed and walked to the door, opening it and beckoning him. Since everyone had seen everyone else with nothing on he thought 'What the heck.' and followed her out. They went down two flights and he found himself looking at a good-sized pool, considering the overall size of the house. She walked into the pool and he followed. He was able to do a length in six strokes, but it was a good pool, just the right temperature. They swam for a few lengths and then Josie sat on the steps, half in and half out of the water. "Come on, Greg. Join me here." He swam over and sat next to her. She reached over to him and gave him a kiss. "I'm sorry about last night. All that messing about. But, we are here now, and I think we should enjoy the rest of the day." He found it difficult to resist, and he put one arm around her and pulled her close. They sat there for a couple of minutes and kissed each other thoroughly, all over. "I think it's time. We need to go back and we need to have our wicked way with each other." he said. "No, we don't need to go anywhere. Here, now." She slipped a little further into the pool and pulled him with her. She lay loosely on the steps and he positioned himself to be above. Within seconds he was in and they moved as one. They were both ready for this and it didn't last too long, and then a voice piped up "Say, that was interesting. Mind if I join you?" and Frankie slipped into the water and swam up to them. "I thought I'd be quiet. You looked to be busy." she said when she had got to them. They were still together, and Greg slowly withdrew and sat down on the steps. "Hm, it looks like Greg here is still raring to go. Mind if I help you out?" Her mother shrugged, looked at Greg, and said "Anything to shut her up!" She sat on top of Greg and went at it hard. She was obviously enjoying this and managed to go strong for a good five minutes, at which point she shuddered and collapsed on top of Greg, then slid off him into the water. She just floated away, on her back, feeling thoroughly happy. She lifted her head and looked at her mother and Greg. "Oh, Greg. You can visit again, soon. Real soon." She stopped, and stood upright. She looked at Greg, and then across to Josie. There was a definite pause, and then "I think you need to tell him." She then fell back and swam away. Greg looked curiously at Josie. "What the heck does that mean?" Clearly uncertain as to what to say, she volunteered "Greg, it's tricky to say. It's just that my daughter and I are not..." and she ran out of words. "Yes? Not what?" Clearly not wanting to go down this path, she eventually said "We are not from around here." "OK, what does that mean? Are you from the north, the south, the west or the east?" By now the daughter had swum back, and hovered around in their area, listening to this exchange. Greg noticed that she had a huge grin - she is enjoying something that I don't know about. This should be interesting. Biting her lips, obviously nervous, although Greg could not imagine why, she managed "No Greg. It means that we are from a place far away from here." He was getting a bit fed up with the hesitation, and his tone showed it. "Josie, I don't know where you are from, but does it matter? I like you - and I like your daughter, too" He laughed. "What does it matter where you are from?" He turned to her, and in a terse voice asked "So, woman! Where are you from?" With a clear hesitation in her voice, she wondered how to say this, and eventually her daughter cut across with "Dammit, woman, tell him! Eridani, OK? We are from the star system that you call Epsilon Eridani. Happy now?" Greg turned to look at Frankie, and couldn't speak. Did he just hear that correctly? Eridani? But that is... and it dropped away. "Yes, it's just over ten light years away, OK? I'm sure that you have questions and the like, so let us show you what is happening, and then you should arrange your questions. OK?" Without waiting for an answer she continued "We have been travelling to this star system for thousands of years, so to us this is not new. To you I am anticipating that it is unheard of, never mind new. Correct?" Managing to just nod, but feeling that his head was close to exploding, Greg started to take in what had just been said, even though his brain was finding a lot of it hard to accept. "Right. The situation that we have in our star system is that men - the males of the species - are rare, so we go exploring, to try to find some." She came close, and looked very earnest in his face. "We are fussy who we take in. Very fussy. We know that our system can support life, but over the last few generations it has become clear that we are dying out. Mainly this is because our male and female split is now all wrong. We are all in danger of going to bed with our cousin, or in some cases our own brother or sister. That way is the way to extinction, so we are actively supporting this program to explore and diversify the gene pool. It is our survival at stake, here!" She paused for breath, and then continued with "Oh yes. One more thing. What you see here isn't actually real. We are projecting a false image, more in line with what your planet might accept." Boom! And his head just went into a billion pieces. Am I on drugs? What the hell is going on here?