Nick's Quest Pt. 05

"I don't want to go back in now," she said.

"I don't want to go back in right now either."

"No, I mean I don't want to go back inside the club again tonight."

"Okay."

"Let's go," she suggested.

"Okay. They all came in Bill's car anyway. I don't think they'll miss us."

So we did just that. Monica and I made love well into the night. I fucked her ass, as promised, and she went down on me in the shower. I think I kissed every inch of her body but paid special attention to her breasts and sensitive, small nipples. I think we went to sleep around 5:00 AM but was hardly watching the clock. Truth was I didn't want the night to ever end. I was sure it was only one night or at best, one incredible weekend.

It wasn't.

Monica and I got engaged the next summer after her graduation from Northwestern. We pulled back a lot after that one night, both admitting to each other the incredible "pull" we both experienced. We didn't want to push our luck by overdoing it. We went slowly the first few weeks and months, which was easy given our 170-mile distance from each other.

I couldn't fathom two people could be so much in love the way Monica and I were. It was a feeling I thought I would never have, one I couldn't envision even existed. It's cliché to say it but we were soul mates and best friends.

As for our sex life, it was completely monogamous. Even though the reason we got together the first time was because she had cheated on her boyfriend and I was sleeping around with Dawn (and dating Leigh), we both felt that too much damage to a relationship can occur when you have an open relationship or entertain others in your bed.

Monica had confided to me that she broke up with her boyfriend, Rob, soon after the dalliance with Sue, Dawn and me. It was partly me but also partly her feelings toward Sue and Dawn in a general sense. She never thought she was gay, but her attraction to women was strong after that experience. She was with Rob one more time after that before breaking it off with him. She told him he didn't satisfy her mind or her body, and then spent the better part of that summer in a relationship with his cousin, Nikki, the girl Rob had dared her to hit on that one New Year's Eve. It wasn't until that second weekend with me that she realized it wasn't another woman's touch or passion she was missing, it was something else Rob couldn't provide her. Rob only "had sex" or "fucked" her. I made love to her. Monica figured that it wasn't the closeness of another woman she craved, just closeness. And she never had that with Rob. It was mostly physical. With her and me, she had both of the feelings. I felt much the same way, obviously after a similar experience with Leigh.

A few other interesting occurences happened between the time Monica and I started to date and our engagement. Tim, Dawn and I, and Lisa, too, became millionaires, although Dawn and I not after Uncle Sam took his cut. Tim's hard work finally caught the attention of a large company and offered him two million dollars. This was almost six months after Monica and I were dating and Tim and Dawn were still an item, as well. We had become pretty good friends, so when he called me up and told me about the phone call he got, he almost told me he accepted.

"But I told them I would have to consult with my partners," he had said at the time.

Thank goodness he had. While it seemed like exciting news (two million dollars!!), I had a hunch they would not put forth their best offer right away. We consulted with a larger accounting firm that specialized in business valuations for the information technology industry, and even though its estimated cost to do it was about $15,000, we agreed knowing Tim would likely get at least two million.

After some due diligence and careful calculations, it was estimated the business venture could be easily worth in excess of 20 million dollars. Presented this, the company agreed and within a few weeks the sale was finalized for an even $20,000,000. I never dreamed I would get such a big piece but knew Tim and Lisa had said it could pay off for me doing all of that work on my own free time.

My initial oral agreement with them was for 5% of the company's stock and Tim kept his word even though it was never written down in a legal agreement. Yes, I got one million dollars.

For her work, Dawn got one million, too, and even though her and Tim were pretty serious, it was uncertain at that point if it would end in marriage. Lisa, who was either dating or engaged to Tim the whole time during the development of the software program, was unsure about her status. Legally, Tim had no obligation to her, so even I was most surprised when Tim confided to me he was going to give three million to her. Parents and banks, including credit cards, were paid back, as were lawyers and other vendors. After taxes, Tim was still left with over ten million dollars! Plus, he had a job with the company who bought it so he could implement and oversee it.

Other friends and family had similar fortunes, or possible downfalls, depending on how you look at things.

For one, Phil and Lynda never got married. They were exclusive and dated since they were fifteen. They were supposed to be married soon but it was learned Lynda had cheated on him. She was the last person I thought would ever cheat on her fiancé. It was revealed because she had gotten pregnant by the other guy and he was the one who actually told Phil he had been with Lynda.

Chad and April went out for a total of nine months. It appeared theirs was going to be a strong relationship and might end up in marriage but it was not meant to be. Chad became demanding in the bedroom and almost thought that threesomes or other group sex sessions should become the norm. April felt slighted and decided a move to Los Angeles was just what she needed. Chad was now living in Detroit and living with a thirty-seven year old divorcee with two kids, ages 10 and 8.

Brian and Jenny were encountering another fate. They were falling deeply in love and got engaged within two months of Monica and me. We were currently coordinating with them in setting our wedding dates so they or the honeymoons would not overlap. Schedules had not permitted but Monica and I would soon be going to Detroit to spend a weekend with them. Monica and Jen had not met one another yet.

Sam and Renee were still doing fine in Chicago. Renee could not give up the new lifestyle she discovered and had many bisexual experiences. It was needed, she said, because of the hours Sam put in at the law firm. Sam knew about all of them, too, even participated in a few of them, although Renee had a strict rule about him not being able to fuck any of her girlfriends. Sam did manage to slip it inside his wife once or twice. After swearing off to never having kids, Renee finally said she wanted to get pregnant, and when they tried, soon found out they were going to have twin boys.

Mercifully, my mom and dad got divorced within a year. My mom knew of my dad's affairs, at least the current one, and even though she was devastated when he finally said he was going to leave her, I knew in the long run it would be best for her. My relationship with my dad dwindled after that, although Julie still kept in regular touch with him. He sold me his accounting practice and moved to Arizona with Sheila and her kids. Approaching fifty, it seemed my dad was set on starting another family.

My mom, as I thought, did make out in the long run. She met a nice man at church who had never married and just moved into the area. He gives her anything she wants, which is more than she ever wanted. She just wanted to be loved and respected. Don and she bought one of the new condos going up on the edge of town and she loved it. She also loved the prospect of having grandkids soon, not to put any pressure on Monica and me. My mom adored Monica and the feeling was mutual on Monica's side. I could not have been luckier in that regard.

Leigh and my sister still lived in Michigan, although closer to Detroit. Their relationship would be more acceptable near a larger city, they said. I couldn't argue. It was odd seeing Leigh and her together now even almost a year later. For the longest time I had the visual of them in that bed in a sixty-nine but now whenever I saw them, I just saw two lesbians. I felt bad for them because I thought they would never truly know what true love is between a man and a woman. They would never have a conventional family or a normal life, but I'm too conservative, probably. Nonetheless, I was happy if they were happy.

Monica and I were the most happy, though. A cool million (or close to $700,000 after taxes) will help, I guess. But with us, it truly was about being together. Now that she was out of school and living with me, she planned the wedding and the rest of our lives while she also looked for a job. I even introduced her to Ken, the next-door neighbor. For the record, she told me, I didn't have anything to worry about. Monica did not like to suntan, as evidenced by her creamy-white complexion, nor did she find Ken even remotely attractive. I told Monica everything about that summer with Leigh and Kelli. She knew the parts with her friend, Dawn, too. There wasn't anything either of us didn't know about the other, which was something I never had with Leigh. I was always finding out Leigh's secrets, both current ones and those in her past.

As for my life at the office, being the boss certainly had its challenges. Meredith, Beth and Frank all remained. Sheila, of course, left with my dad to move to Arizona. We would eventually add Jenny to the staff as a para-professional when she and Brian moved back from Detroit. She went back to school and got her associates degree in accounting. When Danielle left soon after the Missy accident, we replaced her with a young guy right of college. As for Pete, well, he and I are going to talk in the coming year about him becoming my partner.

Speaking of Danielle, her and Ron dated for less than a year and quickly got married. It was discovered soon after their nuptials that Danielle was pregnant. I would run into Ron in the business circle of our small town and could hardly look at him let alone talk to him. The more I thought about it, he was complicit in his wife's death. Why he decided to leave the party with Danielle even though Leigh had filled me in about Missy's indiscretion was beyond me. As for Danielle, she never did work for another accounting firm in town. Rather, I had heard she stayed at home and was raising Ron and Missy's children as her own. At least the kids would have a mother, I thought.

Brian's sister, Jill, finally got her big job offer. While it wasn't for one of the major networks yet, it was for the NBC affiliate in New York City. It wouldn't be long before her prediction was correct and she would be on primetime television on Dateline or 20/20 or something similar, I had no doubt. She had that kind of talent. It's just that I became aware of her other talent before her current one developed. I debated whether or not to ever tell Brian about our history. He and I have become closer since he moved back to Hillsdale and our weddings were being planned a month apart from each other.

Another small personnel move made at the firm was to our front desk receptionist. Mandy and her boyfriend moved to Ohio so I had to hire someone new, the first person I had to interview and hire without the help of my dad. I hired Patricia Hanson, the eldest daughter of the firm's most trusted employee, Meredith Hanson. When I was younger, I knew her as Patricia or Patty. Now she went by Tricia or Trish. Yeah, that Trish. I never got to meet or see the Trish that Leigh kept talking about at the pool, the young, hot lifeguard she hired last summer. I didn't have to; I already knew her, although I hadn't seen her in a few years. She had certainly developed. Her breasts were easily D cups on her small, athletic frame.

As for Meredith telling the guys that one time in the office that her daughter would never wear revealing clothes like the one low-cut top Leigh wore that one day her and I went out to lunch, that didn't turn out to be true at all. Trish wore pretty revealing clothes and tight dresses and skirts all the time. I think our business grew by at least 10% based on current client's referrals alone, and no doubt Trish was part of that. It was also amazing how much more often clients volunteered to come into our office now, too, dropping off work or making up reasons to come in and have meetings, which also increased revenue.

Monica teased me about it but she knew I was not going to be like my father. It was okay to look, but my life and attention was fully devoted to Monica. And that's just the way I've always wanted it.