Bum's Rush Ch. 04

"It's amazing," I said.

"As the four of us talked about, last time, I have a limited number of penthouses - but lots more smaller spaces. Like I mentioned before, I went with what I'm calling the "Industrial Revolution" design - but I have a scaled down version of this that I call "Island Paradise". Right now, 50% of our buyers & tenants are going with Industrial Revolution, about 40% are going with the Island Paradise design, and the rest are a variety of personalized themes. Nine out of ten people coming in to tour our showcases sign on with us before walking out."

"Nice."

From behind me, Johnny whispered, "She isn't mentioning that we collect their down-payment - or first month's rent - when they sign. We have so much money pouring in that she's already working on duplicating this complex at three other locations."

I laughed and said, "No wonder you're waiting on kids!"

"She's hot, smart, and successful. I'm lucky she hasn't dumped me for being a slacker," he said, sheepishly.

Johnny's sister eased over, wrapped her arms around him, and gave him a long, lusty kiss.

I called out, "Computer: Play Barry Manilow."

The blinds closed, the fireplace lit, and a romantic song began playing over the house speakers.

I started laughing my ass off - hardly believing that that had actually worked.

When Nina was finished making out with her brother, she went back to sounding like a professional tour guide, "You can check out the kitchen on your way to look at the four bedrooms - each with private bath. There's another one, right here, for guests. There's no technology - other than the house computer - in this family space - electronics are reserved for the mini-theatre and the game room."

"Game room?" I gasped.

"You have two pinball and two arcade machines. Let the desk know when you want something different, and we'll swap out whichever ones you want to trade. They have a list of what's available on-site. Special orders take a little longer."

"That's awesome!" I said.

"Obviously, as penthouse owners, you have access to amenities that regular tenants don't. In addition, each of you will show up on staff headsets as part-owners of the complex. Honestly, there's not much you could ask for that they won't deliver - usually within the hour."

"It's a little crazy," Johnny admitted, smiling broadly.

"The rooftop has community flower & vegetable gardens, a playground, two pools - with sunbathing areas. The adults-only pool has a tiki bar. There's also a running track that circles the perimeter. Downstairs, the retail space has a full-service bank, a mail & shipping center, restaurants, food carts, and specialty shops."

Johnny added, "We're actually out of retail space. She's buying the block across the street to turn it into an entertainment complex - with more retail options - and a venue that can be flexed for different events. The new complex will be connected to this block via an underground tunnel - accessed by escalator. The cousins are drawing up the plans now - including the lists of materials required - along with cost estimates. Lou & Anthony have already gotten us buy-in from the TIF district. The borough is begging Nina to buy even more blocks. Their tax revenue - just from what we've done so far - is already eclipsing the TIF incentives they gave us."

Nina wet on, "We have an indoor pool - for laps & aerobics - check with the computer for class-times - and a fitness area with wellness coaches. In addition to the security & technical offices, we have an on-site clinic that can handle most emergencies - and stabilize patients until an ambulance arrives, if that is required."

"Wow."

"For the kids, there is an indoor playground, tutoring services, drop-off daycare, and a pet library."

"A pet library?" Megan asked.

"We have a variety of common and uncommon pets that you can borrow for a day or two - after watching a short instructional video. Bring the animal back and you can try another one. Obviously, adoptions are available as well."

"Aww," Megan sighed, looking at me.

"No," I said firmly, aborting her question - before she even asked - about a floppy-eared bunny. She had bugged mom & dad for one every Easter as a kid.

Johnny snickered.

Nina continued, "There's a spa, laundry services, several indoor courts for a variety of sports, community rooms & event spaces that can be reserved, and a non-denominational self-serve chapel - with a list of numbers for a variety of clergy who offer services upon request."

"Holy shit!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah. We've tried to think of everything," she said, smiling. "Parking is, obviously, underground. Tenants can pay for valet but it's included for condo owners. We have shuttle drivers that can handle most requests for tourist locations or public transportation."

"We've talked enough," Johnny announced. "Go look around and we'll order lunch."

Twenty minutes later, the smell of food brought all of us back to the massive commercial-grade kitchen - where we found our guides waiting - and discovered that an Asian fellow had set up a hibachi station in our house.

"This is Mr. Yoshihiro," Johnny announced. "He owns the Japanese restaurant downstairs. Tell him what you're in the mood for and he'll whip it up."

Nina handed out menus and we started trying to figure out what we wanted to eat.

An hour later, the chef was heading out, as a pair of maids arrived to wash the dishes and scrub the surfaces.

The rest of us had collapsed onto one of the huge couches - and were considering an afternoon nap - or at least I was.

"That was amazing," Megan said.

Nina nodded.

Johnny looked at me and said, "If I told you how much he bills for that, you'd probably shit yourself but - honestly - he's worth every penny - and I guarantee you that your investment in Nina quadrupled that dollar amount while we were sitting there watching him work."

"It's not just me," she complained.

"It's 99% you, baby sister. You're amazing."

She blushed and gave up correcting him.

"So," Johnny told me, "I have one last piece of news for you."

He was grinning from ear to ear - so I assumed it was going to be good news. It was.

"Cousin Anthony has been a busy boy. I think he started this to weasel a bigger slice of the pie from all of us - but he ended up having so much fun - he's forgotten all about the profit."

"Okay," I laughed.

"He tracked down - and solicited - every single non-management employee from the Capital Venture Place. I don't even know how many of the cousins he used - but they've all been paid. He coordinated a mass walk-out one Monday morning - like five weeks ago. At 10:01am, every single one of them sent an email to their supervisor - informing them they were quitting immediately - and marched out the door - where they hopped onto the charter buses he had rented, and were shuttled here. Every one of them works for us now."

"Holy ... fucking ... shit!"

"It made the national news. It's been over a month, and Venture Capital is still reeling. Their managers are all working overtime to try to find replacements but -- as soon as a prospective recruit learns who they'll be working for, they walk away. Their corporate image is cancer right now. Their board of directors is meeting, tonight, to decide whether to scrap the company completely and start over."

"There were a few middle-managers that .."

"We've got it covered," he assured me. "We gave business cards to the people we stole - and told them to hand them off to their supervisor - if they thought that person would fit well with us."

I raised my eyebrows, thinking of a couple I wouldn't want.

"Don't worry, bro. I gave our business office a list of 'Hell No's," he said, laughing.

Nina and Johnny stuck around for another hour, answering questions, and catching us up on the more trivial news.

After they left, we talked with mom & dad, trying to decide whether we were going to sell their house - or hire a management company to rent it for us.

After a couple minutes, I looked at the others and, at the same time, we all said, "Let Nina handle it."

I called her and gave her the info. Her first thought was to run it by the cousins - to see if any of them wanted it. I knew we were never going to repay what she had already done for us - so I told her it was hers to do with as she wanted. The others nodded in agreement as I hung up.

"I still can't believe this place," Megan said.

Mom nodded.

"If my boss won't let me work remotely, I'll see if Johnny or Nina can find me a job here," dad said.

"I thought you had already retired?" I asked him.

"My pension and investments weren't paying the bills. I had to go back part-time," he replied.

"You don't have to work if you don't want to," I said. "Meg & I will be on the island and you can consider it your job to keep this place running smoothly - and helping mom with the baby."

"We'll see," he said. "It's kind of been fun to get back into the routine again - but this place is definitely giving me a different perspective. It's easy to see how Nina is so successful. She's got the Midas touch."

I agreed.

We took the elevator down to the retail area and walked through - finally deciding to grab dinner at a smash-burger place. It was just as amazing as our lunch had been.

When I handed over my key-card to pay for our meal, the owner appeared and introduced himself, asking how the food and the service had been.

As we passed the Japanese restaurant, Mr. Yoshihiro saw us and waved.

I was already missing my tribe-mates - but this life was definitely something I could get used to.

Against my better judgement, we visited the pet library. Only the fact that we were leaving early the next morning kept my sister from demanding that she be allowed to take the adorable, gray, floppy-eared, warm ball of cuteness back to the condo with us. She made all of us stand there for almost a half-hour as she got her cuddles in.

Back "home" once more, Megan & I walked out on the balcony. The noise of the city detracted from the serenity that the foliage around us offered - but it was still an amazing space - and I was feeling a little embarrassed about how little I had really invested into this venture.

Even with us handing over Megan's share, it still felt like Nina was doing the majority of the work - and we were enjoying all of the benefits.

My sister & I sat and talked - and cuddled - and kissed - until the waning sunlight was replaced with the lights from the skyscrapers.

We got to the bedroom that Megan had picked out to discover that all of our boxes had been stacked in one corner of the huge space.

Megan & I stripped off our clothes and climbed into the softest, most amazing, king-sized bed that I have ever seen or touched. I felt like I was floating on a cloud.

I felt even more spectacular as my lusty-eyed, sexy sister climbed on top of me - dragging her stiff nipples across my chest - and grabbing my ass-cheek - before grinding her pussy down onto my rigid cock.

"Computer," Megan called out, giggling, "play a porno soundtrack."

Pulsing red lights filled the room and my gorgeous sister sat upright on my cock - her body writhing and swaying - moving like a belly-dancer - grinding her vaginal muscles all around on my aching cock.

I ran my hands over her amazing chest and adored her ribs, tits, areolas, and nipples. Fuck she was hot!

The throbbing music - and her moans - and her sensual motions - and the grasping of her twat - had my man-meat humming like a magic wand.

I'm not sure how long I lasted - with the sights - the sounds - and the stimulation - but it wasn't long.

I grabbed her slender hips and started pounding her beautiful body down onto my cock - grunting as my world exploded - and my penis started pumping baby-batter into my hot-ass sister.

I passed out with my sexy sibling still mounted on my cock.

Johnny insisted that we have the shuttle drop us off at the airport. Mom finally agreed - once he said that she & dad could ride along.

We grabbed breakfast sandwiches at the coffee shop and the driver met us at the front door, ushering us aboard, greeting each of us by name.

When we arrived at the airport - at the courtesy desk for our airline - I tried to hand him a tip. He held up his hands like I had leprosy.

"Don't do it, Cuz," he told me laughing, "Nina will flail us both."

I growled at him but put the money back in my pocket.

We gave mom & dad kisses & hugs - and then I squatted down to kiss my mother's tummy.

She giggled at me.

On the flight home, Meg & I did nothing to tempt the wrath of the stewardesses - and soon we were back in Panama - calling our favorite taxi-driver to arrange for a transport. He was busy - but sent his brother to get us.

We picked up the hammocks and camping mattresses that were on our personal shopping list - as well as the arrows I had promised Hal. The two push-carries would need to be delivered.

We stopped at the diner - for biscuits & gravy - to eat a late lunch - and to give the store time to get the wheelbarrows to the boat before we arrived.

Before we left, I talked the owner into selling me an ice-cream bucket full of sausage gravy. My first thought had been to take Joshua and Paul a treat - but then I wondered if the butcher and Miriam might not be able to reverse-engineer the ambrosia.

The obvious challenge was that we had no dairy - for milk and butter. I decided it was worth the risk. I'd been wracking my brain, trying to find a way to get my favorite breakfast dish to the island. If anybody could figure it out, it would be the two of them.

Back at the docks once more, I headed into the office to settle up the account - and we were soon casting off and heading for home.

An hour later, we were anchored - and I was winching the dinghy overboard. Petal and Hestia were already on the beach when Hal joined them. I was concerned about what his presence meant.

Megan headed off with the girls - after spoiling them by giving each of them a small sweet treat that she'd picked up along the way. Hal grabbed the second push-carry and the two of us trudged up the path with our cargo.

Megan & I had only been gone three days - so I was concerned that Hal had shown up at the beach. He assured me that things had been quiet - and that the watch-routine was working well. He said the scouts had reported that the big ship had visited twice - probably trying to figure out where their people had disappeared to - but that - so far - nobody else had come ashore.

We stopped at Megan's & my hut long enough to drop off the hammocks and the mattresses. Hal raised his eyes at me when he felt how soft they were - and figured out what they were for. I told him that I could get him one, if he wanted, and he shook his head, saying that he would keep the "old ways".

I wasn't sure how old he was - and the mattresses weren't THAT great - but I was sure he would change his mind if he ever laid on one.

The camping mattress was hotter than the natural bedding they used - but you also didn't have to peel leaves & bark off of your body in the morning when you got up. Maybe I had just never been taught a different way - but that had always been the biggest thing I disliked about the bed-nests that they slept on.

Considering the fact that every person - male or female - who had tried a mattress or hammock - had immediately wanted one, I was pretty sure I wasn't missing anything.

We delivered the push-carries to Rowe and then Hal took the new arrows and headed for the range - after giving me an arm-clasp as thanks and farewell.

I swung by the area where we were building the winnowing floor to see how that was going. We still had a little work to do before the harvest arrived.

At the central fire, I discovered that Paul had been busy while I'd been off, on vacation. Over the last few weeks, we had talked about several designs for tables for dining. The drawings I had shown him varied from one-person tables - that reminded me of the old TV-trays mom kept around - to picnic tables.

I saw that he had come up with a three-legged table that was big enough for a husband and wife to sit at.

We had discussed how many legs the table should have and I had shown him that the advantage of three legs was that it didn't matter if the ground was level; the disadvantage was that you lost some stability and had to keep any heavy items you placed on it between the points where the legs connected to the table.

By keeping the table fairly small, he had reduced the likelihood that the users would pile a bunch of stuff on top of it - so that should avoid the stability problems. Initially, this was just going to be for meals but, I knew, as soon as the villagers started seeing them, everybody would want one.

Eating your meal with your platter sitting on your lap wasn't that bad - but this would make it easier.

For my part, it also opened up table-top gaming. The kids had no problem sitting, crouching, or lying on the ground to play games - but the adults didn't usually do that.

Seeing Paul having the first finished product ready, I realized I needed to grab a couple sets of chess and checkers the next time I went shopping. My plan was to hold off on dice games for now - so backgammon would have to wait. My concern, with chess, was all of the pieces that needed to be kept track of - but it wouldn't hurt much to try it out - and I was curious to see what the heavy-thinkers in the village thought of the game. I was hoping that I wasn't going to start any fights if some of them were overly-competitive.

Honestly, I really hadn't seen much of that in this group - and maybe that was another of the things about this community that just seemed "right" to me. Any grumbling - which was minimal to start with - was squelched quickly - and not by force. Obviously, there were social customs and practices that the group, as a whole, expected everyone to follow - and Miriam's team of elder-women did their share of silent manipulation - but the overall sense of things was that everybody could - and was expected to - contribute - and everyone benefited. Correction was one-on-one but praise was celebrated.

Miriam waved me over to the ovens and I started to get worried - but she pulled me into a hug and then kissed my cheeks. She told me that she was happy to have Megan & I back.

Megan was doing some basketry, nearby, and looked up when Miriam said her name, smiling when she saw the two of us together.

When the village matron noticed her looking, she hustled over, wrapped her in a hug, and then rubbed her hands over Megan's stomach and breasts - calling on the spirits to make the baby strong - and my sister's breasts full of life-milk. Megan was getting embarrassed and I couldn't help but laugh.

I should have stayed quiet because Miriam descended on me next, rubbing the front of my loincloth, and praying for the spirits to get my loins ready with the next baby. I was very uncomfortable in that moment. Megan, however, was laughing so hard that she had dropped whatever she was working on and was holding her sides as she continued to enjoy my state of embarrassment.

Trying to think of a way to escape, I realized we had news for her. I hinted to Megan and she took Miriam's hands in hers and shared that mom & dad were going to have a baby. The elder-woman danced around in a circle with my sister-wife - and then grabbed my hands and did the same with me.

When she turned back to talk more with Megan, I made my escape.

After dinner that night, Megan wanted oral. Her gag reflex had been affected by the pregnancy - so she wasn't deep-throating me anymore - but we had a pretty good time - or at least I did. She didn't seem unhappy, though, as she finished swallowing my load - and corralling the overspill to lick it off of her fingers.