Family Business

"Brittany," I told her, "I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

And with that she screamed, threw back the sheets and buried my face into her beautiful breasts. A little later I had her screaming in a different way, it was a good night.

I had a bit of a surprise the next day when I received a call from my mom.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked.

I was on a jobsite south in Sunridge.

"Tell you what?" I asked. Had there been something on my project she needed information about?

"Brittany told me she and you are engaged!" She said, "Brittany is a wonderful young woman. She and I have already started talking about wedding plans. We've got a lot to do, in a short period of time. Have you picked out the ring?" She went on and continued talking without me needing to add to the conversation.

Later, after I got off the phone with my mom, I thought about this development. Sure, I'd told Brittany I wanted to spend my life with her, but was that a proposal? She certainly took it that way. Thinking through the problem I guess I knew we were eventually going to get married. It just is happening a lot quicker than I thought, and now my mom was involved.

As the wedding plans swirled around me a subject was brought up by my mother.

"I assume Taylor will be the best man." She stated, rather than asked.

I hadn't thought of Taylor in quite some time. As I had said, he and I weren't close. He was living somewhere on the east coast working in finance. I rarely talked about him. And almost never talked to him.

"I'm sure Taylor will be happy to serve in that capacity." My mom said, as if I'd already agreed.

"Yeah, mom, I'll think about that." I said to her.

" I don't think there's anything to think about. He's your only brother." She stated with finality. "Now as far as the tux's," and she began planning more of the details of MY wedding.

Over the next few months my mom and Brittany planned everything. I was half expecting my mom to come in with nude photos of the stripper I was to have at my bachelor party.

The Monday before the wedding Taylor arrived. That evening we had a small reception at my parents house on the family land. There were a few family members and some close friends. When I introduced Taylor to Brittany he was on his best behavior. A light hug, and a beaming smile. Taylor was polite asking Brittany how we met, about her career, and so on.

Later he walked up with a broad smile.

"You did good, little bro." He told me. "Brittany is a nice girl. Good thing I didn't see her first." He said with a laugh and punched me on the shoulder.

I gave him a look. I wondered where that comment had come from? It seemed inappropriate for the event.

"Just kidding bro," he laughed as he mingled away.

Later, after the evening was mercifully over and Brittany and I were heading home she commented about Taylor.

"I thought your brother was nice. A perfect gentleman." She said.

I thought about that. I had told Brittany about Taylor and my relationship growing up. I'd told her how he always wanted the spotlight and how my mom had always favored him. I also thought about that comment, 'a perfect gentleman'. I found it odd.

One thing that Brittany had talked about long before the wedding was who would be invited. I was pretty easy going about these types of things and relinquished most of that to my mom and Brittany. There was one name we did not quite argue about, but it was more than a debate. Donovan.

Brittany insisted on inviting her ex husband. This made me uncomfortable. Yes, I had met Donovan and had helped me with my refinance. And yes, Donovan was a nice guy and had invited me out two separate times to get a beer. (I declined both). But, it was hard not to forget that this was the same guy that used to fuck my, soon to be, wife regularly for a number of years. That stuck.

As in 99% of the wedding plans Brittany got her way, Donovan would attend. She had even got my mother to agree with her on this particular subject.

The wedding itself was fun. The entire wedding including the ceremony and the reception was on my family's land in an open field between the office and my parents' large house. Tables and chairs were set up with big white tents sheltering them in case of poor weather.

Throughout the evening Brittany and I mingled. There were times we were together and times apart. Both of us were being congratulated and asked to participate with different people in photographs, and other duties.

At one point I realized I hadn't seen Brittany for a longer than normal period of time. I started looking around for her. Taylor walked up at that moment.

"You looking for the beautiful bride?" He asked, a bit of a smile on his face.

"Huh, yeah, as a matter of fact I was." I told Taylor.

He threw an arm around my shoulder and turned me so now I was looking down the hill. With his chin he gestured toward a picnic table near a scrub pine tree somewhat separated from the wedding festivities and the other guests.

There sat Brittany, in her flowing white wedding gown in what looked like a long and serious conversation with Donovan.

I moved to head that way and break up their cozy little discussion. But Taylor held me tight, not allowing me to move.

"Easy Bro," he quietly said to me. "Don't cause a scene on your wedding day. I'll keep my eye on them, it's all innocent." He said.

I thanked him, took one last look, and then was pulled away by a group of friends. As I left I felt a unique emotion of gratitude toward Taylor. It wasn't often that he did any type of favor for me that wasn't for his benefit too. It made me think slightly better of him for the moment.

Shortly afterwards Brittany appeared and the wedding festivities continued. My observations of her and Donovan in an intimate conversation were almost forgotten.

We honeymooned on Big Island Kona. We stayed at the Kona Plantation Spa and Resort, a sprawling stucco building with swimming pools, palm treed grounds, ocean views, and several wonderful restaurants. Brittany looked great in her bikinis. She had tried to lose some weight before the trip and though she still could lose a little more, she looked really good.

One afternoon we met a couple from Canada by the pool. Their names were Rick and Gina. They were celebrating a five year anniversary. It was one of those casual vacation acquaintances where you told each other where you were from and discussed local restaurants you had tried, or beaches you had seen.

That evening we were back in our second floor suite. Brittany was still in her bikini leaning out on the balcony wall finishing her Mai Tai. I heard her talking to someone down in the pool area one level below us. It was likely Rick and Gina.

Looking out at the balcony I saw Brittany straight legged, bent at the waist, elbows on the solid stucco four foot wall. Her bikini bottoms had crept up into her ass a little. All of a sudden an idea came to me.

I crawled out on the balcony lower than the wall height. Brittany kept her running dialogue with Gina, I was unseen.

I snuck up right behind Brittany, reached up and pulled her bikini bottom down. From below no one could tell she was now bottomless.

Other than a quick slightly annoyed glance down at me, I was ignored. She didn't miss a beat in her chat with Gina.

I then slid my hand up to her pussy and began teasing her. She kept up the conversation ignoring my activity. Very soon I felt the moisture of her excitement. She half heartedly tried to close her legs at one point, I pushed them further apart.

I then started pulling on her clitoris, stroking it, lightly pinching it. I heard her voice stutter a bit. Meanwhile Gina continued talking, not sounding like she was anywhere close to the end of whatever she was telling Brittany.

Brittany's legs started to tremble. I kept fondling, squeezing, pulling at the sensitive nub. I knew Brittany was reacting to my touches, but she was also too polite to abruptly cut Gina off.

I think it was when I leaned up and touched my tongue to her pussy that she gasped and slumped, for the moment oblivious to the ongoing conversation.

At that moment the long winded Gina paused seeing the confusing reaction from Brittany.

"Brittany?" Gina asked. "Are you okay? You looked flushed. Maybe you got too much sun today?" She went on.

"Yes," Brittany gasped. "I better lay down, see you later." She said as she staggered bottomless back into the room.

She was soon also topless and my erection was buried deep in her wet pussy. This was one of the more memorable of many sexual experiences we enjoyed on our honeymoon. When I think about Hawaii there is always a satisfying sexual association with the beautiful islands.

All too soon we were back at work. Apparently Taylor had stayed a few days after the wedding and spent time with my parents. We were solidly in the busy season at work and it felt like I had to work twice as hard to make up for the days I had been gone.

We certainly were in a growth mode for the family business. I think there were several factors. The big one was the surge of people flocking to central Oregon because of the climate and the lifestyle. I also believe my work, running a crew full time, helped our reputation. No false modesty, my crew was building some high quality projects. The other big factor was my mom. She drove us. She kept us organized. She negotiated the best prices from our suppliers. She put together our advertising program. She marketed the company.

I loved the work, except for one part. I did not like the sales calls. Occasionally you'd get a great client like Carlton Eldridge, the real estate attorney from California. We had completed his project just before the wedding. I spent several evenings after work chatting with Carlton. He was friendly and really appreciated the good work we did. He told me if I ever needed assistance legally, he'd help, 'pro bono'.

But he seemed to be an exception to the rule. The majority seemed to be whiny and picky. I didn't have the patience to babysit the more particular clients. My mom, though, insisted on proper treatment of our paying customers.

We had a good year and in January we distributed the profit sharing checks. Mine was big, nearly forty thousand dollars. Brittany was excited about the large check.

"Let's get a new car," she said, "or go on a trip. We had such a good time in Hawaii, let's go somewhere else!" She added with excitement.

When I told her I was going to invest it she became grumpy about my decision. I explained that I could not do physical labor my entire life, my body will break down. I'd seen how much my dad had slowed down in the last few years. We needed to plan for the future.

You're no fun!" She protested, and I think she actually was a little upset with me.

As the new year started business remained strong with no slowdown in sight. Brittany's website design business continued to do well also. She was good at what she did and our improved website, at her hands, also helped our business and brand awareness.

One thing I wasn't pleased with was the fact that Donovan was still a client. Occasionally I'd ask her if she met with him or spoke with him. I'd get a minimal response from Brittany. I think she knew I was jealous of Donovan and downplayed her interactions with him. But I still knew they were in contact. She had done nothing to make me think there was anything going on with Donovan. Nonetheless, it pissed me off to think about Donovan and I avoided the subject as much as possible.

For the most part our life together was good. We had the occasional argument normally over money, but other than that we got along great. Brittany was fixing up my house near downtown, making it our home. When I wasn't working I was either helping my dad finish he and my mom's place on the family land or working on the disaster that used to be Hilda's property.

And then in October of that year I got an odd text message from my mom.

'Company meeting nine AM Saturday'

And that was all it said. What was the big mystery I wondered. My mom and Brittany were close and I asked her if she'd heard anything about a company meeting. She said she hadn't heard anything, but somehow, the way she said it made me think maybe she had.

Saturday morning I arrived at my parents house.

"Come in," my dad said slightly formally. " Would you like coffee?" He asked.

"Dad!?" I asked, "what is going on. You're acting weird." I told him.

And with that he looked toward the kitchen. Just then my mom along with my brother Taylor walk into the living room, broad grins on each of their faces.

Taylor walked toward me and gave me a big hug.

"Bro!" He said to me.

Everyone was behaving a bit strange. I was confused. I thought through what I knew. My mom had called a company meeting. My dad had greeted me uncomfortably. And now Taylor was here. What was up?

I soon found out.

"Timothy," my mother began. "Our family business is growing and it now, more than ever, is a family business." She went on. "We are privileged to have Taylor back with us and starting in the next few weeks he will be in charge of sales and marketing for Designed Outdoor Spaces."

What I thought! My asshole brother who was always too good for this business is now back? I was more than surprised. I got along much better with Taylor when he was far away. Now he'll be living in town and we'll be working together!?

My mom droned on about how professional Taylor presents himself and how good this will be for the business. She even mentioned that I would no longer be responsible for sales calls, and wasn't that great. And on and on. Though I didn't say it, I was pretty sure this would likely not work out well.

When I glanced at my dad he gave me a forced smile and then refused to meet my eyes. This was clearly a power play by my mom and Taylor. I'd have to think about all this. The dynamics of our small company had just shifted.

When I got home Brittany could tell I was pissed.

"So they told you." She said.

"You knew?" I asked.

"Timothy, last week your mom said she had been talking to Taylor, " Brittany said and quickly added, "but she swore me to secrecy."

So everyone knew about this but me. Great. I was more pissed off now, but I didn't know what to do about it. After some thought I decided to just ignore the entire situation and go about business and my life as normal.

That worked, for a while. In early November my mother called another all company meeting. In the weeks since I had been informed About Taylor joining the business I had minimized contact with my mom and dad. My dad, when we talked, seemed sorry about how things had played out and was trying to make up for it by being overly nice.

My mom on the other hand was almost the opposite. In our family dynamics Taylor and my mom were allies, my dad was neutral, and I felt like I was treated like the opposition. With Taylor back in the mix my mom's power base had definitely strengthened. I began being treated like the hired hand.

This family meeting was more formalized. We sat at the family dining table, my mom solidly at the head of the table. She was running the show.

"Starting Monday and for the following few weeks Timothy, I want you freeing up time to work with Taylor." She dictated. "Though Taylor is sharp and has some experience with our business I want you to get him familiar with the type and scope of our current projects." She went on.

When I asked about the projects I was currently working on she said that I was to make sure my crew completed them on schedule. She continued telling me what I should be doing and it soon became clear that it was my job to make sure Taylor did his job correctly.

After the family meeting was mercifully over I quickly tried to get out as quickly as possible.

"Hey Bro," Taylor addressed me. "Tell Brittany thanks for the lead on the apartment I'm all moved in." He said.

"Apartment?" I asked, perplexed.

"Yeah, didn't she tell you?" He asked. "Her ex is developing some residential spaces in Redmond. I moved in last week. They're pretty nice, I'll have you guys over sometime." He added.

I didn't reply, I just took off. I heard my dad calling my name as I left. I ignored him. I was pissed. Pissed off about a lot of things. First off the way my mom described my responsibilities relative to Taylor, I was going to be babysitting his work for months likely. And the other thing was Brittany helping Taylor rent a condo from fucking Donovan! There was too much going on behind the scenes leaving me to be the last person to know.

When I got home I took my anger and frustration out on Brittany. I yelled at her for not telling me about her helping Taylor get a place to live. She knew the dynamics between my brother and I. She apologized saying that because I had been under so much stress she didn't want to say anything to upset me. Eventually she cried and I apologized and we tried to get back to normal. But things remained a little off.

Over the next few weeks I began working with Taylor. One thing Taylor had going for him was his charming, easy going personality. Many customers like that. This was something that came naturally to Taylor. He had spent his entire life leveraging that natural ability.

As we worked together I noticed another tendency he had. He liked to take shortcuts. He was always looking for the easy way to do something.. He'd skip a step or overlook something. I tried to explain to him how important small details were. He would nod and agree, but I could tell he was ignoring my comments.

This cavalier attitude bothered me. A construction site can be a dangerous place if all precautions are not taken. I tried to talk to my dad about it one time. He agreed it could be a problem but did absolutely nothing to correct Taylor.

Eventually I moved back into full time project management and Taylor was full time sales. I was at a jobsite later that Spring and out of the blue a brand new red Ford F150 pulled up. Out hopped Taylor.

"What do you think of my new wheels Bro?" He asked, a big smile plastered on his face.

I just stared not saying a word.

"Mom and I were talking and we wanted to make sure we gave the correct impression on my sales calls." He said. "We decided a new truck was necessary." He told me.

I looked over at my older truck, beat up and dented. I just shook my head.

He went on to tell me he'd had a complaint from the homeowner on the current project I was working on. Taylor and I walked the jobsite and he pointed out the customer's concern. I explained to Taylor why we had to build this detail the way we had. We needed to comply with the local building code, and that was why it was done this particular way.

"Try to fix it up a little," he called to me over his shoulder as he walked back to the truck, "the customer's not happy." He added.

There were a whole bunch of things that bothered me about this interaction. Obviously the truck. But perhaps more so was his shuffling off the customer complaint to me. That was his job. And finally, his tone when he left reminded me of how he treated me when we were growing up. He was acting like he was my boss. That really bugged me.

The months went on and the joy I had once felt about my job and the family business was dampened by Taylor's presence. My mom was quite pleased. Business was strong and she attributed that to Taylor. When we have a customer complaint the salesperson is supposed to work with the customer to figure it out. Taylor would dump it on me and now it became my job to solve whatever problem came along.

My mood affected my relationship with Brittany too. She was naturally happy and upbeat. The negativity I projected drug her down and we didn't seem to be enjoying each other as much as we used to. I tried to dig a little deeper into the problem, the issues were deep set.