Inheritance Ch. 03

It was still only early but I slept like a log that night.

Zip time again.

Over the next three days there was a lot of handshaking, a large number of guarded smiles -- new CEO syndrome, a good number of genuine ones, a fair number of speeches, what felt like dozens and dozens of PowerPoint slides and the odd 'was it me or was that guy a complete wanker?' in the mini-coach afterwards. The hotels were a bit better than I was used to, quite a bit better in fact (frankly they were a shit load better), certainly there were no Maccie's breakfasts or motorway coffees. And generally I'd say the three days of the road trip were quite bearable. As mum and gran had reported the businesses were in fair order -- given the economic climate. None of the companies was going under at the moment, though Judith -- I was allowed to call her Jude, by Thursday night when we dropped her off at home -- Jude told me she thought one company was going to need some remedial action at some stage soon. When I said that I wanted to preserve as many jobs as possible, Jude looked at me and said "Of course, Michael, we always try to do that where we can." That kind of made me feel stupid but I guess that grand-dad had already been there and thought of that.

I was seeing links between the companies -- grand-dad had gone for technology as much as anything, though there were a couple of service companies -- facilities management, that sort of thing. There were also less obvious businesses like a car parts company. But even there he had been canny -- the Sheffield based company had a stock of less common parts but they were pioneering specialised part manufacture, using engineering drawings and rapid prototyping and Computer Aided Design to produce less easy to find parts for older models as well as looking at new designs to replace less effective original parts. I tell you there are some clever buggers walking the streets.

As we came back from Sheffield down the M1 I asked Katherine -- with a K -- how often the various companies got together and talked about what they were doing.

She looked at me blankly.

"They may do informally," she told me, "But there's no official arrangement."

"Want to start that," I told her, "A group conference. Find somewhere nice, not Thrallthorpe, get reps from all the companies together, swap information about what they do and exchange ideas. Formalise it with presentations but make it fun as well.

"Not the bosses either, certainly not the bosses of the bigger operations."

Katherine looked at me curiously, "Generally it's my experience, and the last couple of days has confirmed it, but it's the guys 'doing' that know what is going on, they can talk about it, make it interesting. The bosses don't understand the products."

"That sounds like a good idea," my mum said from the seat in front. "Don't know why we've not done it before."

We arrived back at Thrallthorpe after dropping some of the team off, in the early evening. Shell, the legal eagle had left her car at the house so she travelled all the way back with us.

"Right!" I said as I entered the house, "I am off to the gym get some of the kinks out, and then a swim."

"I was going to go into Northampton to the gym but is it okay if I join you?" Shell asked.

"Why not? Mi casa e su casa." She grabbed her gym bag from the back of her car and we went to the gym room.

As I walked and Shell cycled, both of us working up a sweat, I asked, "Where's your little girl?"

"My partner is looking after her. Actually Mike, that's kind of my cue. I sort of wanted a word alone. Can I speak freely?"

"Every time." I told her.

She paused as she thought about what she needed to say, "I guess I drew the short straw, but we_"

"We?"

"The business team and your gran and your mum, we need you to think about something_"

"And that is?"

"A successor."

I missed a step and slipped off the back of the treadmill.

I came to with Shell kneeling over me. "Mike? Are you okay?"

"Well colour me stunned, but yes I am. A successor -- where the fuck did that one come from?"

Shell handed me my water bottle and sat down next to me. "Think about it," she said, "Your grand-dad left you all of this, your mum and your gran worked for five years to make sure you received it, and you're going to take up the baton and run."

"I haven't even got a girlfriend at the moment."

"A bank balance like yours works better than pheromones, trust me that's not an issue."

"But -- I mean -- I -- er."

"You haven't got any time to waste Mike; it's something you need to start sorting out now."

"You make it sound like life insurance."

"Well if you like, that's what it is, isn't it -- sort of?"

A whole spectrum of things whirled through my mind. I could see where she was coming from. "And you drew the short straw?"

Shell nodded.

"When?"

"Anytime in the next couple of years_" she started

"No." I interrupted, "When did you draw the short straw?"

"Last night in the bar - you were watching the second half in the other room."

"An actual straw?"

"Not really." She paused, "But they reckoned it had to be me."

I waited for her to explain. "Well, one I'm your legal expert -- succession is sort of my area. And two -- well it's kind of fucked up_"

"Fucked up is something we're very good at round here." I told her.

"Well, the line of thought goes that as soon as we raise the subject of an heir, you might think internally, like your mum or one of us. "You know keep it in the extended family so to speak?"

I nodded, Shell went on. "So they chose me because_"

"You don't do guys?" I put in.

Shell stared at me. "You always say 'partner'," I went on, "Not boyfriend. You haven't got an engagement or wedding ring. But you have got a secure long-term relationship. And the others felt you were safe in discussing this with me. Really it was just a guess."

"And me being a lesbian isn't an issue?" She asked warily.

"Not with me it's not! But then I'm not really in a position to judge anyone else's sex life, am I?"

"What about the heir thing_?"

"I'll put it on my To Do list. No!" Face palm time, "Wait Pip's already done that, hasn't she?"

Shell smiled her cute smile for me. "Oh man! She has, as well."

I decided that I was going to go for a swim now, and asked Shell if she would join me. She did and as we changed, I asked her, "So as we're being open and honest -- have you ever done anything with Jane or Elizabeth?" Gotcha! I thought as an embarrassed silence followed.

"That information is governed by the lawyer-client privilege," she told me as we entered the pool area.

"How was my mum?" I guessed, as I stopped at the side of the pool.

"Fucking awesome!" Shell laughed and shoved her boss into the pool.

Supper that night was a simple meal of cheese on toast, and the house seemed strangely quiet after all the fuss and bustle of the last few days. I dismissed both Jane and Elizabeth to their rooms, with instructions to not touch themselves in any way and to be sure to wear the butt-plugs tomorrow.

"Have these two displeased you Master?" Elizabeth asked. Jane watched from behind her.

"No Elizabeth you have not, both you and Jane are a delight to me every day. But tonight I wish to be alone."

Master speaks. They both had to accept it. I took my tablet, answered a few emails, checked a few message boards and turned in for the night. I was a long time getting to sleep. So, sometime I must have drifted off, but it wasn't good sleep, I had bizarre dreams, I was being threatened and I was trying to hit back, and try as I might I couldn't do any damage. I woke up sometime around two to go for a piss. And as I walked back to bed across the dimly lit room, I realised my mum was sat in one of the easy chairs; actually I noticed her legs - long and bare, pale in the darkness. She was wearing her short red robe.

I got back into bed, pulling the pillows up behind me. I knew what she was doing, and why. She used to do this to me when I was a boy, she'd wait and wait and wait and eventually I would tell her what was bothering me. I figured I needed to talk it through but wasn't sure where to start.

"Do you want me to put a light on?" she asked me.

"No, leave it off."

Neither of us said anything for a while, I struggled, trying to put what I was feeling into words. Mum knew that though, she didn't push, didn't try to force the issue or fill up the silence. What Katherine had said was the one thing that suddenly made this real. My life had changed so much, it wasn't just the master-sub thing, I could live with that, but it was the whole business empire and the idea of an heir. I was beginning to doubt I could do it.

"I guess_" I started, "What I mean_" I felt her stir as she listened. "Mum. I'm not sure I can do this." Yes, I know I sounded like a total wimp, but that was the way I was feeling.

I heard my mum draw breath to speak. "You've got wealth, power and access to as much sex as a man could want. What's the problem?"

"I didn't aspire to any of this, didn't expect it. I was happy as I was."

"Are you unhappy?" Mum's voice was level and soft. It was almost like the devil on my shoulder, whispering in my ear.

"No -- not unhappy. Scared. Yes scared is a good word."

"Scared of what!"

As I formed the words, the feelings came with a rush. All of the people I had met this week so far, all of the things that had been said to me, all of the hopes and the dreams that had been implicit and not so implicit. "I'm scared of not being able to deliver. I'm shitting it that I am going to let you all down!"

"Michael -- listen to me." All of a sudden I was thirteen again, and I'd gone to mum for help. I was reminded of a time when I had swopped schools and was feeling the pressure from a new maths teacher. He reckoned I was capable of doing the work and kept pushing me. I'd had this sort of talk with mum and she had worked with me to understand what I was being asked to do. To this day I still fucking hate quadratic equations, but I passed my exams and got a Grade 1. The lesson being that if mum and I worked together we could do anything.

"Are you really scared?"

"Yes."

"Well, that's right, you should be. And I'd be worried if you weren't. You're right, you have a huge responsibility. Grand-dad understood that, he wanted to ease you in gently; he'd have given you the support while you got into the job, but he was taken from us. But you know the way Grand-dad worked if he hadn't thought you were up to the job -- you wouldn't have been given it.

"Laura, Judith, Katherine, Michelle and Pip, Grand-dad John picked them all and put them into those jobs because he knew they could do it. They weren't the most qualified people we had in the company, but he saw them as the right people. He made sure that they got their qualifications and the training in house and look at them now.

"And that's what he did with you. Tell the truth? I am so proud of the man you've grown up to be.

"Look Mike, you know your gran and I will support you as much as we can. But from what I've seen so far you're doing okay."

"I don't feel like I am."

"Michael John Bailey! Stop feeling sorry for yourself and tell me what's really bothering you."

I told her about the heir thing. I was speaking my fear out into the darkness, and the darkness responded.

I heard her chuckle.

Fuck, my mum has a sexy laugh! It's a thrilling sound. She came to sit on the bed with me. I couldn't see her, just feel her - hear the laugh in her voice. "Can you imagine how I feel?" I told her, "One minute I'm trundling along on my own without a paternal bone in my body and all of a sudden I am told by a really cute lawyer with a devastating smile that I need to think about becoming a father?"

"And is that such a scary thought Mike, becoming a father?

"I guess not. I mean thousands of people do it every day. Except for one little problem, mum."

"Hmmmn?" Mum asked quietly next to me.

"We haven't got a mother lined up yet."

"Oh I wouldn't worry about that Mike, There's someone out there for you, you can count on it.

"Now it's time you were asleep again, it's another busy day tomorrow."

"Yes mummy." I laughed.

"Are you too grown up for a hug from your mother?"

"No mummy." I told her still smiling. I've said it before but it's true -- a kiss on the cheek from your mum as you go to sleep is still a great feeling no matter how old you are. I drifted off with mum still sitting next to me.

When I woke up on that Friday morning the sun was bright in my room, mum must have opened the curtains before she left. It was early, about six, but despite the disturbed sleep, I felt rested and clear-headed. As I ran a bath the uncertainty of the previous evening was gone. I knew that I was going to go ahead, with everything -- business, mum, gran, the heir -- the whole thing. The how -- especially the heir thing -- would need work, but as I said last night -- thousands of men become fathers every day.

Breakfast was a working breakfast again, all of the business team were there and we ran through what had happened this week, took it apart and kicked it about. Pauline had cooked a fish and rice dish that she called kedgeree, it was delicious and it was good to eat and talk -- almost like a family - as we discussed some of the plans we had seen. It was decided that we would start a working group, drawn from people from within the group. The idea was then to take some of the ideas we had heard about, bounce them around, see if any of them were flyers. If they were we'd then run them out to companies in the group. It was figured that initially we'd need at least ten million -- to get some of the research work started, and that, Judith pointed out was not a one-off expense. However both my grand and mum agreed it was a case of spend to accumulate.

As the clock ticked on to quarter to ten -- the gathering was scheduled for eleven -- I stopped the general discussion.

"Last night Katherine, on behalf of you all," I glared at them all ferociously -- it didn't work. "Approached me about the issue of an heir. I thought a lot about this last night and I just thought I'd let you know that I have taken it on board and it's something I am going to work on. I believe Pip's got it on my 'to do' list." Actually from the way she laughed I knew that somewhere it was actually on a list.

And with that I closed the meeting. "Jane, Elizabeth. I need to see you in my room now." There was a kind of inrush of breath from around the kitchen as the other members of the business team grinned as cat-called my mum and gran out of the room.

I wasted no time in my room, "Strip please ladies."

As soon as I'd said it Elizabeth realised what I was looking for. "Master I need to go to my room."

"Strip please Elizabeth. Stand still."

As soon as she was naked I checked them out, Jane first. I ran my hand down her back, and down between her arse cheeks. Nestled tightly in Jane's arse was the dark pink of the plug. "Is it comfortable? Well lubed?" Jane nodded; I stroked her face, before kissing her deeply. Try not to cum in front of the visitors. You can go." Jane left promptly.

"Eeelizabeth!" My gran was nervous, her whole stance screamed it. My hand slid down between her arse cheeks and found -- as I suspected -- nothing.

I sat on the edge of my bed, and called Elizabeth over. She stood next to and I indicated she should lean over my knees. "I think five will be enough, don't you Elizabeth?"

"Yes Master."

"Count them please?"

Smack! My hand left a red print on her cute but still slightly red arse.

"Thank you Master, that's one. May I have another please?"

Smack!

"Thank you Master that is two, may I have another please?" I Elizabeth's tight little bum in between strokes.

Smack! Three. Elizabeth wriggled in between blows, grinding her pubis against my cock.

Smack! Four.

Smack! "Thank you Master, that is number five, would Master like to add any more?"

"No, I think that will be sufficient, but you can assist me with this." I told her as I slid my track suit bottoms down.

"Thank you master."

It didn't take much work by Elizabeth to get me off and she swallowed the cum greedily and noisily, slurping it down and making sure not one drop was spilled.

"Right lovely woman - go and get that plug and come back here with it in."

While she was away, I started to dress, as I pulled my suit trousers on, Elizabeth, still naked came back flaunting her black butt plug.

I kissed her and told her to dress again and meet me downstairs.

I have what I call the Rule of Friday, Friday is a casual day, clothing etc -- the whole week so far had been business formal -- suits -- and I was tempted to go completely the opposite and just wear jeans and a t-shirt. As it was Jane and Elizabeth both suggested -- nicely, but quite strongly - that smart casual was the way forwards.

So a nice open necked shirt, casual trousers and shoes rather than trainers. And dressed like this carrying a box of display materials that I had the first of the good moments of the day.

Now Frank Pilling, head of Engineering at Allitt's Holdings isn't an idiot, he's actually quite clever in a bizarre and often twisted old public school headmaster sort of way. I knew him from working at Allitt's, and knew his reputation among his workers. Everything I had heard said Frank Pilling thought we were still living in the nineteen seventies, oh, and his shit didn't stink, which was strange because on the whole the Engineering Department were a pretty good bunch. They certainly threw some bloody good parties.

"Bailey!" I looked round. Frank looked like he was about to make a complete knob of himself. I'm guessing he didn't know I didn't work at Allitt's any more -- anyway he started to order me to bring something from his car.

"Sorry Frank, I'm busy."

I'm not sure anyone has ever interrupted him before let alone refused him, he went a funny colour red, "But I'm telling you_"

"And I'm telling you Frank, I'm busy."

He started sputtering and but-butting. And I just walked away with a daft grin on my face (Yes -- I know childish, but it felt good.). Fortunately Pip, my PA, intercepted him and showed him where to set up. She also didn't help him carry his stuff in.

Second good moment of the day -- I was walking through the house and I heard my name called again "Mike? Mike Bailey!" Oh be still my beating heart - Eva, one of the members of Allitt's Marketing team, and long term object of my fantasies.

Just in case you have forgotten about Eva, (and I know a lot of you haven't), she is about five foot six, wears lots of autumn colours -- which suit her; she has large dark brown eyes, a sinful smile and she smells delicious. Eva wears lots of gold and her body defines words like nubile and voluptuous. And she's got a good brain on her. That's our Eva. Now, contrary to popular belief, she and I do not have 'a thing', going on, yet. I have a myriad of fantasies about her, many of which involve her and I being naked, and conjoined sexually, while we explore each other's pleasure thresholds and the ways in which her voluptuously nubile body vibrates during the sex act, but that, to date, is as far as it goes.

Now you're going to say 'fucking twat! He's got his mum and his gran and he's shagging both of them and now he wants this girl - what a knob!'

Guilty as found, Milord.

But in mitigation I would offer the court the following as evidence.

The defendant is a male, it's a generally held truth that we think with our cocks anyway and generally that is excuse enough, or at least I've always found it so.

The situation with my mum and my gran -- with Jane and Elizabeth -- was not one which I made. I already had a loving familial relationship with those women, which has changed recently to become a master-sub one with a sexual element. It's an extension -- an evolution - of our existing relationship, but I'm still not sure how much of that I actually own, how much is me being the boss or are the subs running it? It's been given handed to me, and I've been told it's mine but I'm still not quite sure.