Idle Hands Ch. 01

"Let's make a deal."

*****

Four hours later, Rachel walked into her boss' office.

"So, Rachel," Ben Chihiro said, looking at her over his wire-framed glasses. "Do we have a deal? Or do we start pulling files together for the appeal?"

Rachel tossed a manilla folder on his desk and slumped into a chair. "We got a deal."

"So give me the thumbnail version."

She rubbed her aching eyes. Her brain felt like it had been pounded flat by a brick. Hardin was a relentless negotiator, but she had fought him to a draw. "Antioch pays the material damages immediately and in full. Confirmation of deposit into an escrow account no later than thirty days from today.

"Same goes for the firm's percentage for both the material and the punitive damages. Forty-three million and change by the end of June.

"As for the plaintiffs and the punitive damages...that old man is shrewd, Ben. And it allowed me to address one of the fears I had. You know what happens to people when they get a whole pile of money all at once. Lottery winners and the like." Ben nodded agreement. "They lose control. Buy up houses and cars and get suckered into scams. Before you know it they're broke again.

"We're going to an annuity-based payoff. Antioch's going to pay five million a year into that escrow account for the next twenty years. That will get paid out yearly to our claimants."

"What about-"

"It's solid, Ben," Rachel said tiredly. "If a claimant dies, it goes to his or her heirs. If Antioch gets sold, this agreement goes with them. If they file for bankruptcy, we have first claim on assets. Lombardo and Wyatt gave it the OK from the client side. I'm sending it down to Derek Norquist in Contracts to look it over, but I think we're in good shape.

"So now I want to talk about my future at the firm."

*****

"So how was work today, honey?" Joshua asked her, the question gently amused, as if they were some sitcom family from the eighties.

"Oh, not too bad," Rachel replied, suppressing a grin. She spooned sauteed chicken onto her plate. "Finalized a settlement of over a hundred and fifty million dollars with Antioch Chemical, embarrassed a smug-ass prick of a lawyer, and quit my job."

"That's nice," Josh said. Then he did a double-take and dropped his fork with a clatter. "Wait. What?"

The kids were staring at her with expressions of muted horror. "Relax. It's not what it sounds like." She took a sip of wine and smiled. "Oh, that's good.

"The firm got one third of the settlement money. That's forty-odd million dollars. My bonus for winning the case is a sizable chunk of that. Enough to keep us well-fed for quite some time.

"I love the law. I still love it. And I'm good at it. But it isn't worth working sixty or seventy hours a week for the rest of my life. You know my family history, Josh. Dad died of a heart attack when he was only fifty-two. Mom had a stroke at fifty-five. We're not a long-lived family on my side."

She took a deep breath. "I might die young. I might not. Lord knows I take better care of myself than Dad did. But if I only have a few years left, I'm going to live them. Not spend it buried to my neck in depositions and motions.

"Ben Chihiro agreed to keep me on retainer in case he needs consulting work done. And I'm still a partner, which means I share in the profits the firm makes. It won't be as much as I used to earn, but it's still a decent salary. This way I can do pro bono work for people who need it. And that's why I got involved in the law in the first place. Not to make money for a law firm. But to help people. To make sure corporations can't get away with bloody murder where the environment is concerned.

"The house is paid for. Our only major expenses are smaller things. Gas, electricity, insurance for the cars, property taxes. Food."

"Salary for our new maid," Sarah muttered resentfully, stabbing her vegetables with her fork.

"Yes, that too," Rachel said calmly.

"School expenses?" Alex asked. His face was troubled, torn between happiness for his mother and worry for their future.

"Already put aside." Josh said. Rachel flashed him a quick smile. "Your mother and I created education accounts for the both of you when you were born. Wherever you decide to go to school, we can afford it."

"So now I can enjoy myself," Rachel sighed. "Sleep in. Put in a garden and watch it grow. Plant flowers. Read all the books and watch all the movies I never had time for." She lifted smoldering eyes to Joshua. "Get reacquainted with my former husband.

"Which leads us to you two," she said, looking in turn at each of her children. "Alex, Sarah, you're good kids. We love you."

"And we're proud of you," Josh continued, taking up the thread of conversation, as if they had not practiced it before dinner. Rachel's heart warmed as he spoke, his face both kind and serious. Good God, why did I let this man get away from me?

~Damned if I know. But if I have my way, he'll never be far from us again.~

"You're each at the point where you have to decide what you want to do with your lives. There has been some disagreement on this," he said, carefully not looking at her.

"Sarah," Rachel continued, "Do you still want to be a chef?"

"Yes, Mom," her daughter said. Her pretty face was alight with hope.

She nodded firmly. "All right, then. Bring us what you have about applying to culinary school by Monday. The three of us will look it over and get the process started."

"Alex," said her husband.

"Dad?"

"You want to be an actor?"

"More than anything, sir." Rachel's eyes pooled with wistful tears as she saw the naked joy on her son's face.

"Done any research into acting schools around here? Or elsewhere?" he said, ignoring Rachel's stricken look.

"Northwestern has a good theater program in the communications school, Dad. So does the University of Illinois-Chicago."

"Communications," Josh mused. "I think I still know a few folks up in Evanston. You know how us artsy folks hang together," he said, winking at Rachel. She squeezed her thighs together, feeling heat bloom in her belly, and it was not caused by the wine she had drunk at dinner. "I'll make some calls. They might be willing to take a flyer on a transfer student if he has good recommendations.

"So, that's settled," Josh said. He leaned back in his chair. "I just hope that we can get tickets to your movie premieres, Alex. And that Sarah can find us a table in her restaurant when we're old and crippled."

*****

"Do you think they'll make it work?" Rachel asked later, putting away a stack of plates. She nodded her thanks as Josh pulled utensils out of the dishwasher and sorted them into the cutlery tray with a clatter.

"I think our parents said the same thing about us when we were their age," Josh replied.

Rachel smiled sadly. She and Josh had fallen in love from the time they first met at a party after a basketball game. When she had discovered she was pregnant with Alex, the thought of terminating the pregnancy had barely registered with either of them. Despite her parents' furious protests, they had been married in the summer following Rachel's freshman year. Alex had been born in November.

Her absolute insistence on having her child and marrying her boyfriend had put her relationship with her parents under enormous strain for years. She had been the first member of her family to go to college, the great hope for the next generation. They had thought she was throwing her life away in exchange for a marriage which was doomed to fail. Her father especially had seen Josh as nothing more than a dilettante, the pampered son of hippie throwbacks who had no idea what "real work" was like. For the first time she wondered if her furious reactions to some of Joshua's more incendiary projects were born out of guilt due to her parents' early deaths. Was she trying to somehow prove them right by hamstringing her own marriage?

"I think they'll do fine," she said at last. "Sarah, at least. She is such a good cook, Josh. And she picks things up so quickly. You only have to show her anything once.

"Alex, I'm a little more worried about. I wouldn't know a good actor from a hole in the ground. But he's miserable where he is. Might as well see if we can help him get into NU and let him stretch his wings a little."

"I agree." He put away the last of the clean dishes and turned to her. She felt her body heat as he looked at her, his eyes full of promise.

"It's only eight o'clock," he said.

"Too true," she sighed. "Do you think the kids would be scandalized if we went to bed this early?"

"Maybe," he said. "How about we go out to the workshop? I haven't shown you what I've been working on."

*****

"So what's the big mystery?" she asked as they entered the small building. Josh turned on the lights and closed the door behind them. She took a deep breath of the scents that no amount of airing could completely remove; wood shaving and paints, stone dust and leather, turpentine and sweat. Then, embarrassingly, she gave vent to a huge yawn.

"Sleepy?" Josh asked.

"Just haven't been sleeping well lately," she replied. "You know, the trial. And the kids. And looking forward to you coming back," she said, letting her voice deepen.

In fact, she had been sleeping horribly. Ever since her conversation with Maria on Monday, she had been almost completely unable to sleep, tossing and turning until the early hours of the morning. When she finally dozed off, her dreams had been confused and amazingly vivid, with repeated appearances by a beautiful, blond-haired woman who seemed to be urgently trying to tell her...something. Interspersed with her had been incredibly explicit dreams about her husband which had woken her to a hot, squirming horniness no amount of masturbation could entirely alleviate.

The man in question regained her attention. "Over here," he said, gesturing to the workbench.

She took a long, long look. "Oh," she said in a tiny voice.

"Josh, it's...it's..."

~Magnificent. He will be my Michelangelo.~

"Wonderful. The growth from tiny baby to skillful lover." She caressed the bronze of the fourth piece, her fingers lingering on the cold metal of his arched back. She paused and leaned forward, her eyes caught by a faint, almost subliminal pattern. She squinted, wishing she had worn her reading glasses, then rocked back, letting loose with an outraged laugh.

"Fluffy bunnies? You put fluffy bunnies on the bedspread?""

"Hey," Josh protested. "I spent a lot of time on top of that bedspread."

"You mean you spent a lot of time on top of me."

"Under you, too,"

"Well, what were you paying more attention to? Me, or the bunnies?"

"You, my black-haired Venus," he whispered. "Always, forever, you."

Sniffing slightly, she turned back to the two figures. God, were we ever that young? Their entwined bodies reminded her uncomfortably of their own children. She blinked, wondering, then bent closer. No. The telltale ring was not visible at the base of Josh's bronze rod. And for someone as detail-oriented as he was, that would not be a mistake, but rather, a clear message to her.

"This is a specific night, isn't it?" she asked. "The night we made Alex."

They had been so happy and horny that evening. They had gone out to campustown, neither of them even old enough to drink. That hadn't stopped them, though. In a dive bar on Green Street named O'Malley's, they had gotten tipsy, danced till their legs hurt, sang "American Pie" at midnight, and walked back to Josh's apartment on Locust. There, they had begun to make love, only to find out they were out of condoms.

"To hell with it," Rachel had said, lying on her back. Her hands cradled her breasts, offering them to him. "Come on, Josh. I need you inside me. Please, baby, fuck me!"

"Yes, Venus," he whispered, hugging her close. "It is."

Suddenly she found herself crying, unstrung by his love and his old nickname for her and by the beautiful message in his art. By the emotion and the stress of the past week. "I'm sorry," she said into his shirt, racked by wrenching sobs. "Sorry I was such a bitch. Sorry I didn't understand. Sorry I was always at the office. Sorry I didn't listen."

"I'm sorry, too." His voice was as full of regret as hers. "Sorry I didn't argue. Sorry I felt my art was more important than our marriage. Sorry I left you to deal with the kids."

~Now.~

She wiped her eyes and turned her face up to him. "I need you, Josh," she said softly. "It's been too long since I've had a man in my bed. Too long since I've had a man inside me." She smiled, a phrase from their first months together coming unbidden to her lips. "Let's have some fun."

Her hand dropped to his groin. To her faint disappointment, he was limp inside his pants. But that's all right, she thought with an inward smile. It just makes it more enjoyable. A hunger was growing inside of her, a primal need, and she pushed him back towards the bench.

"Up," she ordered.

"Wait," he said. With as much care as if he were transporting a real child, he moved the bust of the sleeping infant several feet away. He then hopped up on the worktable, and bracing his arms, allowed her to pull off his shoes, socks, boxers and jeans, until he was naked from the waist down. She smiled as she drew close and reacquainted herself with his body. His legs were lightly dusted with sandy blond hair, a match for that on his head. They were strong and well-muscled, and his fat, flaccid cock lay against his thigh. She placed her hands on his legs, stroking softly, pushing his knees apart.

Driven by a hunger she could not name, she stooped and took his dick in her mouth, almost inhaling his length until her nose was pressed against the wiry thatch of his pubic hair.

Once she had it, she held herself still. Yes, she thought. Let his desire for me grow naturally. We have all night. No need to make him come quickly. She held his length in her mouth, laving it with her tongue. She felt a spurt of triumph as she felt him start to swell. Running her hands from his thighs to his flanks to his cloth-covered back, she breathed in the scent of his musk, her hot breath causing the muscles of his belly to jump and tremble.

Slowly he grew in her mouth, soft flesh transforming into steely-hard arousal. In a few moments, his cock was pointing skyward, and she hung, poised over him. The soft tip nudged the back of her throat. She raised her head, marveling anew as the spit-slickened length of him emerged from her mouth, then lowered it again, enjoying the soft hiss of his breath as she pleasured him. His hands caressed her hair, sifting it through his fingers, then moved on to her back, trailing over the gooseflesh raised by her desire.

Up and down she bobbed. The motion would have seemed boring and repetitive, had it not been for the wonderful feel of Josh's cock in her mouth. She played it like an instrument, her tongue swirling around the throbbing shaft, then toying with the sensitive glans. She teased the tiny, weeping slit, then lunged forward, deep-throating him, her teeth scraping his turgid thickness as he flinched in surprise.

All the while, a desperate thirst was growing inside her. It was as if she had been wandering in the desert for years, lost in a wilderness of her own making. All of her sexual encounters; the two quickly-regretted one-night stands, the lonely nights of masturbation, even her session with Jeremy the week before; all of these were as dry and useless as a handful of sand. Only Joshua held any meaning. Only he could ease her torment. The answer was inside him, readying itself in his balls, only needing her touch to come boiling out of him in a mighty torrent of life-giving seed. Her pace quickened, one hand joining her mouth, pumping his cock. The other moved between his legs from below, cupping his sac. She squeezed slightly, then relaxed her hand when she heard his warning hiss. She fought back the urge to force his pleasure, to push his come out of his cock by brute strength.

"Baby," Josh said. Never stopping, she looked up at him the the screen of her hair, strands stuck to her cheeks. "I'm not going to last much longer. Do you want to lie down? Or get up here?"

She pulled away from him long enough to answer. "Neither," she said. "I want you to come in my mouth, honey. I'm going to swallow all your delicious come. And after that, we can go inside and make love."

She lowered her head to his shaft again, her tongue spiraling around him. God, she could feel it! Sense it like an extension of her own body. A pool of life, only needing her touch to bring it springing forth. Her efforts redoubled, her lips and tongue and mouth and hands working together. And Joshua moved with her, the muscles of his buttocks clenching rhythmically as he pushed up towards her. She could sense the willpower it took for him to keep from taking control, from throwing them both down on the floor and taking her, mindless of her wishes or comfort.

"Almost there," he whispered. Rachel stifled an indecent giggle. It always amused her how quiet Josh got right before he achieved orgasm. The result of living with a pair of ex-hippies who didn't think much of ideas like "privacy." And would be caught dead before they let me put a lock on my bedroom door, his voice reminded her.

She gripped her lover around the waist with both arms, her head bobbing furiously on his phallus. Her lips and tongue felt the tiny changes which signaled his explosion. The muscles at the base of his cock began to tense and loosen, over and over. At the same time his organ seemed to thicken, expanding slightly in her mouth. He went utterly still in her grip, as if he was willing his orgasm to burst forth.

"Coming now, baby, coming...now!" he gasped, and suddenly her mouth was flooded with his come. His cock pulsed, delivering load after life-bearing load of his seed. She swallowed greedily, desperate for more more more! Until the torrent became a trickle. Then finally stopped.

She swallowed one final time, feeling his thick, salty warmth vanish into her stomach. She licked her lips, cleaning the last pearly remnants of his orgasm from her face. She felt stronger, happier, somehow revitalized. She grinned up at Josh.

"So, do I still have it? Does the old lady still know how to suck a dick?"

"Old lady, my ass," he said agreeably. "Forty-one ain't nothing. You've got a lot of good years ahead of you, Venus.

"And yes," he said, stooping to kiss her on the mouth. "You've still got it."

Rachel shivered happily. It had always pleased her how nonchalant Josh was about kissing her after she gave him head. Other men, she knew from talks with her girlfriends, avoided it like the plague.

"Won't even kiss me unless I've wiped my mouth off," Deirdre O'Neill said. "It's like he thinks it's catching, and if he kisses me after I've been on his crotch, he'll want to suck cock as well."

"Well," she said. "We've wasted enough time in here. How about we sneak inside? If we're lucky, the kids won't hear us go upstairs, and we can screw until we pass out."

"Counselor, that sounds like an awesome plan."

They locked the door of the workshop and made their way across the rain-wet grass of the yard towards the back door. They were walking slowly, side-by-side, occasionally stopping to trade kisses. Josh had his hand on her breast, and she didn't try to stop him.

Neither one looked up to the house. If they had, they might have seen the tear-streaked face of Sarah, watching them.