Hostile Takeover Ch. 01

"Hi Amanda," I said. She sounded as if she was asleep. "I'm sorry to wake you."

"Preston, is that you?" she said coming fully awake. "Sam is right here I'll get him for you."

"No Amanda, that isn't really necessary," I said quickly. "I don't want to awaken both of you. A cab driver just dropped Charlotte off at my apartment. She's very drunk. So could you please stay awake for a while so I can bring her home?"

"Preston, Charlotte is 22 years old and you guys are practically engaged. You may as well keep her until morning, and she can come home then," she said.

"Amanda, Charlotte and I broke up 2 days ago," I said sadly. "Can I just drop her off?"

"I'm sorry Preston, I didn't know. Are you sure she knows that you're broken up? Only this afternoon she was talking about how she was going to make some changes in your living arrangements, as soon as she got done pulling your head out of your ass. She hates that tiny little apartment you live in. she says with the money you're making the two of you should have a house. Why did you break up anyway?" she asked. "Every couple goes through little arguments and rough patches. Sam thinks you're going to propose to her."

"I walked into Manny's and caught her giving another guy a hand job, in public," I said casually.

"Oh!" said Amanda. "I'll stay up so you can bring her home."

Twenty minutes later my Mustang's growl announced our presence as I drove inside the gates of their house. The porch lights were on and the door opened as soon as I stepped near it. I carried Charlotte up a long circular stairway and deposited her gently on her bed. "Take me to Preston," she slurred. "My Press, loves me."

"She loves you, you know," said Amanda softly as she covered Charlotte with a fluffy comforter. "She has no idea how much yet, but I've never seen her take to anyone the way she has to you." I just nodded and went back down the stairs as quietly as I could.

The next day at work was an interesting one. I had a meeting with one of the sales people from the company we bought cutting tools from. I'd had the same meeting several times a year. over the past 4 years. They always went the same way. Their guy would show me the catalogue full of their new lines and explain the newest policies for ordering custom made cutting tools and inserts. Then we'd have lunch, and finally we'd talk money and orders.

To say I was shocked shitless was a big understatement. Their new guy, was a woman, and she was hot. She was about 5' 9" weighed about 130, with a slim but curvy figure. She had that tawny Jennifer Aniston type of hair that was neither Blond nor Brown. She had huge grey eyes and a beauty mark on her left cheek. I took one look at her and sensed trouble. I sent her to Charlie, because I wasn't in the mood for another kittenish sex bomb.

A half an hour later, I saw Charlie bringing her out on the floor. They were looking at one of our HAAS VL 20's. Charlie kept motioning for me to come over to them, and I kept pretending I didn't see him. Finally Charlie brought her over to me.

"Press, this is Samantha Jordan, she's Dan Blocker's replacement," he said. "She'll be handling all of our dealings with her company from now on."

"It's nice to meet you," I said, extending my hand, and then pulling it back before we made contact. "Sorry, I didn't want to get coolant on you. I'm a mess right now. If you're still here when I get cleaned up, we can talk."

"Well Press," said Charlie. "There are some questions about our needs that you really need to be the one to talk to her about. I can handle ordering the cutters for all of our manual and tool room machines. But the CNC stuff, and all of those radical cutters you design, are beyond me. Half of the cutters you use on the five axis machines don't even look like cutters."

As we walked around, I found out that Samantha was a lot more than just a pretty face. She knew her cutter dynamics, and was a serious sales person. I was really enjoying our time together and was about to suggest lunch, when the bottom fell out. We were in one of our QC labs discussing how similar our tool paths were to the path lines the CMM Machines used for inspection, when Charlotte showed up. Charlie tried to give her something to do, but she was having none of it. She just stepped up and started glaring at Samantha.

Charlie tried to defuse the situation by introducing them. "Charlotte Stevenson, this is Samantha Jordan. She's our new sales rep from Carbide international," he said. "Samantha, Charlotte is the owner's daughter."

Samantha smiled warmly and extended a hand. "Charlotte, we were about to go out for lunch, would you like to join us?"

"Who's going out to lunch?" asked Charlotte.

"Why, Press and I were. Dan told me that Press likes to go to Texas Roadhouse," began Samantha before she was cut off.

"There is no fucking way you're going anywhere with my boyfriend, anytime," snapped Charlotte. "I'd throw your fat ass into one of these fucking machines first, grandma." Tears were already trickling down Charlotte's cheeks. Charlie grabbed her and pulled her out of the office.

"She makes an incredible first impression," smiled Samantha.

"Why don't you just re-order the same things we got from you last month. And add in 50 of those serrated edge hoggers and the inserts for them," I said. "If you write it up and fax the order to me, I'll sign the purchase req. and we can meet again next month for the lunch part. I'm really sorry about this. It's embarrassing, but I'm sure your husband won't mind, you going home early."

She was great about it, and said she'd see us next month and she hoped everything worked out with Charlotte.

I turned and walked slowly to Charlie's office. I noticed all of his new furniture, and office supplies. Overall his office was actually better now than it had been before. If you didn't pay attention to things like the cracked glass on the picture of his family, you'd never know that the little office had been the victim of one Of Charlotte's rampages. His desk was bigger and better. His computer was more modern and had a bigger monitor. Everything about his office was better after the rampage, than before it.

I knocked on the door and walked in. Charlie was trying to calm Charlotte down.

"Excuse me Charlie," I said. "Charlotte. My office, now!" Charlie gave a silent prayer that what he thought was going to be a knock down drag out fight wouldn't take place in his office. Charlotte got her things together and followed me, meekly.

Once inside my office, I let her have it. "Charlotte, what the fuck is wrong with you?" I yelled. "Why would you do something that stupid? This is a business, not some fucking high school club. We can not afford to alienate the people who we do business with, or we'll be out of business." I was so angry, that I didn't realize that we could be heard all over the offices.

"My father..." she began.

"Your father left me in charge, and I don't think he'd want to hear about what you've just done," I said.

"My father always told me the same shit he tells you," she said fiercely. "If you want something go after it. So Preston, I don't give a flying fuck about Daddy's business or your smelly, noisy machines. None of that shit matters to me at all. Your customers, your suppliers, your business partners, can all take a long walk on a short pier. Fuck the company." Charlotte was getting angrier by the second. She stood up and came over to me. As much as I hated her, or wanted to believe I did, the fire in those green eyes was getting to me.

"Preston, I made a big damn mistake a few days ago, but it opened my eyes. For all of my life I've been spoiled and bored. I knew that I could have anything I wanted, so there was no reason for me to try or work for anything. But as sure as the sun is shining, I know what I want now. I want you Preston," she said sticking her finger in my chest. "I love you Preston, and no one is going to ever take you away from me. You are mine, now and forever. You may be pissed at me, but you'll come around. I was wrong 2 days ago, but today I was right as rain. I was protecting what's mine. You're just lucky I stayed in control."

"Charlotte how was that, staying in control?" I snapped.

"Preston, my first instinct was to beat the shit out of that bitch, but I held back. You just don't even know what she was doing. You didn't see the way she was looking at you. Women can tell these things, and as sure as I'm standing here, that whore didn't care about selling you shit. She just wanted to fuck you. You didn't notice, did you? That she wasn't very shocked by what I said? Right now she thinks she won. She got the sale she came for. And she thinks that you're going to fire me, or put some kind of leash on me. But it ain't gonna happen. If you fire me today, I'll still hurt that bitch if she comes after you next month."

"Charlotte, what business is it of yours if I did go out to lunch with Samantha? You cheated on me so, there is no us," I said.

"I already told you that I made a mistake," she said quietly. "I'm very sorry for what I did." Tears came from nowhere all of a sudden. "Preston, you just don't understand. This is all new to me. I don't know what I can do, and what I can't. But all you need to know is that I love you so much it hurts sometimes. Can we go out to lunch and talk about this. We're yelling so loudly right now that everyone in your precious business knows all of our business."

Twenty minutes later we were staring at each other over a large platter of Fajitas at Chilli's. "Should you be drinking in the middle of the day?" I asked her.

"The way you're staring at me, I can't help it," she said. "God Damn it Preston, no one is here except for us. I know how you feel about me."

"You mean how I felt about you; past tense," I said.

"Preston, I know what you told my father. All that stuff about how much you loved me and wanted to ask him how he felt about us getting married." She said. "That was yesterday. I somehow doubt that you stopped loving me overnight. Speaking of overnight, why didn't you just drop me on your couch last night? You could have kicked me out this morning. But you were worried about me, and you didn't want me in your apartment. I think that you're afraid to be around me because if you spend too much time with me, you'll want me back."

"That's not going to happen," I snorted. "Charlotte I'm kind of old fashioned when it comes to certain things."

"Look Press, I promise you, it won't happen again. Most of the guys I've been with, have never given a damn about me. Most of them just wanted to fuck me and show me off to their friends. A lot of them even wanted me to fuck their friends. They didn't care how many guys I screwed, as long as they got some too. I'm not used to someone caring about me so much that they don't want to share me with anyone else. I mean it's only sex. The other day I was only giving Ray a hand job while I waited for you. Those guys wanted to party but I told them that, I was waiting for you to come home from work." She seemed to be pleading with me to believe her, and I wanted to.

"I knew that I wasn't going to fuck them, even though I didn't know why. But now I do. I had a long talk with my mom, and she explained a few things to me about being faithful, and all of that shit. I want to be faithful to you, and I can, if you give me the chance. But you have to be faithful too. No more lunches with skanky saleswomen, and no secretaries giving you massages, because if I see it, you know I'm going to go off." She was staring directly into my eyes when she said that and I could tell that she meant it.

"So Preston, will you please forgive me?" she asked. "May I please have one more chance? You won't regret it."

I nodded my head, and she smiled at me.

"So we're back together?" she asked. I nodded again. "Well it won't count until you prove yourself." she smirked.

"How do I prove myself?" I asked puzzled.

"Well you could be just saying this so you can get back to your robots and machines," she smirked again. "I won't believe it until you take me back to your place, and spank me, and then fuck me until I can't walk."

Before I could say anything like, "Let's go," or "But we have to go back to work," my iPhone rang. It was Amanda telling me that Sam was in the hospital. He'd had a heart attack on the golf course, and I needed to find Charlotte and come to the hospital as soon as possible.

When Charlotte and I got to the hospital, we asked a nurse at the information desk where we'd find Sam. She directed us to the Cardiac Ward. Once we got there we found Amanda in the waiting room. She looked like she had aged over night. Worry and exhaustion, lined her face.

"Amanda how is he?" I asked.

"They don't know anything yet," she said quietly, she looked down at her watch, and then back up at me. "We've only been here for about 25 minutes. I called you as soon as we got here. It seems like hours. Thank you for finding Charlotte and bringing her."

"Geez Mom, we were together, when you called," snapped Charlotte. "It's not like he had to go out and search the bars for me."

We all sat down in the hard plastic chairs that filled the waiting room. There was a television on, but none of us even glanced at it. We didn't speak and barely acknowledged each other's presence. I guess we were all lost in our own thoughts. I could tell that Amanda was really afraid, for Sam. I was too. I kept thinking about all of the things he'd taught me, and wondered if he knew how much I appreciated him and the way I felt about him.

Amanda was looking for a source of strength, and I guess I was it. I don't know when she took my hand, but it felt natural. It wasn't one of those things where you barely know someone and you hold their hand to put on a show, but all the while you're feeling odd. It felt like we were family and I hoped that someday we would be.

"Mom, how long do we have to stay here? Can't they just call us when they know something?" snapped Charlotte irritably. She stood up and looked at us, and then exploded. "What the fuck are you doing? How long has this been going on?"

Every eye in the waiting room suddenly turned towards us.

"Charlotte what are you screaming about now?" I asked. "Sit down and lower your voice, you're embarrassing all of us."

"Why the hell are you holding my mother's hand?" she hissed. I couldn't help it I just started laughing. The fury in Charlotte's fiery green eyes softened and tears started falling.

"Come here, Char," I said reaching out to her. She sat down and leaned over to me and I cuddled her and tried to calm her down.

"Charlotte, I love you, and only you, but your Mom and Dad are like family to me. It's only natural for us to try to comfort each other during bad times. Right now you and I are both afraid for your Dad, but it's far worse for your Mom. She needs us right now, can you understand that?" I asked.

"I'm sorry Press, I'm sorry Mom," she said. "But Damn it, when it comes to you, I just act irrationally. I can't help it."

A nurse came in and told us that we could see Sam but only for a few minutes. The doctors on site, had him stabilized but they were waiting for a special Cardio team, who would do the surgery. A doctor standing beside her told us that we were very lucky he had been at the golf club when it happened. They not only had a portable defibrillator there, they had people who knew how to use it. In many cases a heart attack like Sam's cold have been fatal.

As we filed into the room, I was worried. I may as well tell the truth, I was scared. Sam had always seemed larger than life to me. Seeing him lying there, connected to all of those tubes and machines, threw me off. He seemed so small, and so frail. I guess it made me realize that life is precious, and very fleeting. At any moment, any of us could be snatched away. Sam had always been my source of strength. Sure I made a lot of the day to day decisions, but it was always with the understanding that if I ran into anything I couldn't handle, I had only to call him and he'd handle it.

Sam also did all of the corporate stuff. Sure, I'd spoken to the board of directors several times but I never felt comfortable doing that. I especially felt weird, in cases when it wasn't really necessary for me to speak to them. Even after the company had gone public, Sam retained 54 percent of the company's stock. The board was only a formality.

Sam's eyes opened as we approached. "Only a few minutes," said another nurse standing by his bed watching all of the monitors.

Amanda leaned over and affectionately kissed him. Sam's hand moved up, even with all of the tubes connected to it and rested on Amanda's backside.

"Press," he said slowly, as if even speaking put a strain on his damaged heart. I went closer so he wouldn't have to strain any more than he already was.

"I knew you two would work it out," he whispered smiling. "That thing you asked me about, yesterday...you never had to ask. It was what I always wanted too. If I don't make it..." suddenly the monitors began to beep loudly. "Take care of my girls," he hissed. Then he lost consciousness. The nurse abruptly pushed us out of the room and started yelling. I could barely recognize some of the things she said as being English. She screamed about Cardio this, and STAT that, while sticking all kinds of needles in Sam's IV tubes.

We were hustled back into the waiting room. Amanda's soft sobbing was the only sound in the room. I gently stroked her hair and hugged her to me. "Amanda, Sam is strong. He's going to pull through this. It might take a little bit of time, but he will." She looked at me and nodded her head shyly. Amanda had always been a supremely beautiful woman. She had rich silky, long dark hair that you could just get lost in. She had widely spaced beautiful eyes that were full of love and compassion. She was the kind of woman who was superior to types.

Some men love their women on the taller, thinner side. Others prefer shorter more voluptuous girls. Some liked tiny petite women, and some love BBW's. It didn't really matter what type of woman you liked, everyone liked Amanda. The thing about her that was so special though, was that it wasn't a slutty type of appeal. She was just beautiful and classy. She was kind of like Elizabeth Taylor in her heyday.

She squeezed my hand and nodded at me and tried to smile. After a half hour, that seemed like three days, another doctor came out and introduced him self to us. I couldn't remember his name but he was supposedly a very famous cardiac surgeon. He explained a lot of things to us. Basically the prognosis wasn't very good. Sam's condition, was far too weak for them to to operate on. They had put him into a medically induced coma while they pumped him full of a cocktail of drugs to lessen the damage to his heart and to stabilize him. Their hope was that over the next few days, he'd gain enough strength that they could then go in and do the surgery.

He also told us that we served no purpose haunting the visitors lounge and should go home. If anything happened no matter how minor, they'd call us immediately.

"Told ya," said Charlotte.

Amanda's eyes rolled at her daughter's words. She gripped my hand with a strength I hadn't suspected she had. I just smiled at her in return.

I drove them home, with Amanda in the passenger seat next to me, and Charlotte squeezed into the Mustang's tiny rear seat. Charlotte whined the whole way.

"I love these cars," said Amanda. "They remind me of back when I was younger."

"Mom have you ever even been in a car like this?" snapped Charlotte. "And why do you get to sit up front. Whether you know it or not that's my seat. I should be sitting next to Preston. He's my boyfriend, for now."