Over the Top

Said he would tell me what he thought I should do. But it was my boat to row and steer, just remember his grandkids. Then he did the most important thing, he called in Ken. Told Ken to bring in the files on the top 5% people in the company, the whole company. Took a mail transport carrier and cart to deliver them. Told Ken to stay, first of the group, didn't know I needed a group yet, and then we started breaking down the files. Who was good, who was dead wood. The ones that would cause trouble in the change. Who would give me problems as boss. Those that could retire out and should. Those those were close enough to let in new blood. Those that needed to move around. The ones that could move up and should. Talked about the people that had ongoing personal problems and what they were. I know, bad no-no, but everyone does it, and times like now, it's needed. If it was about people, we talked about it. When the two days were up, the Old Man sent me home, told me to make my plan, come back in about a week. Then we would make the announcement.

I thought my head was going to fuckin' explode. TMI, (oops) Information overload, but I knew I couldn't forget any of this mass of intelligence, it was all gold. Plus I knew it was the last time that anyone would give me this much direction. As the Old Man said, it was my boat to row and steer, I just haven't sat in the seat yet. Right now I needed to find some oars and a lake, or a river. Remembered when the Old Man and I were talking about the people who accepted leadership when they didn't want it, and were sure they would fail. First thing they did was to gather a core together, the knights or the generals of the army, or maybe just a group of friends. Thus the group was born. Knew what I wanted, young like me, smart, real smart, educated, able to think on their feet on the run fast, hungry, real HUNGRY, not for the good life per se but to succeed, to win, above all win. All alpha male, or female. But how do you control or lead these types of winners? Make them one alpha, all pieces of the same body. Forge them, meld them, beat them, blend, beg, reward, or punish. Stick them all in the same room, make them eat together, sleep, shit together and live in each other's clothes. Then stick them in the slots to learn.

When I was ready, went back to the Old Man. Again we went to that closed door office to talk. He asked me what my plan was, talked about markets, money, and people. Grandkids too, set up a trust, line item withdrawal, right in the budget, just like a savings account, in, not out. He loved that, while I had him softened up, started talking about the group. Who I wanted, where I wanted to put them in the company. Who of the old horses had to go to make slots, top flight horses, his friends. He asked me, said he only wanted one to keep and move to a different slot.

The rest could go, said others had tried this group concept, when it worked it worked very well. A lot of people tried, and failed, too many big heads to bump together. Told me again that this was my ship, to sail it the way I wanted. We talked about the transition, how I wanted it to go. BIG retirement for him, all the attention to him. I wanted to be known only to the people I had to touch directly, slide in on the sly, no pictures, or maybe just a few. Wanted me and the group to be able to be like the principal in school, slide into the back of the class, watch, look, listen, and learn the true story.

He said we'd do it that way, called in Ken set it up. Big retirement party at a famous hotel. Black tie, formal affair, TV cameras. All the movers and shakers there. Announced my name, no speech, no pictures, all about the Old Man. Talked to the Old Man after the party, said thanks for the way it went. He laughed asked if I was sure. Said I had to get the group together on the fly. Reached out to shake my hand, have fun he said. His office and desk were cleaned out, had his tickets for England, catch you later. Wave of his and hand he was gone, pushed me out of the nest, learn to fly. Holy...fuck.

Started to pull the group together, had Ken, knew of a pair I wanted, guess who. That's four, brought one up from within the company. Married man, stable VP of Resources, that's five. One more I knew, gathered them, started the drill, beat on them some. Put them in a hotel room, a suite with all six. Lost one. She couldn't live in someone else's skin, asked to go. Brought another one from the company, failed right away.

Mick said he knew of a guy who would like something like this, an ex ball player. Asked him, brought him in, fit like a glove. Put them on the b-ball court, played together awhile, told them I wanted a TEAM. Hired a semi-pro team, kicked ass, theirs, not the pro team. Got a lower level club team, still got their ass kicked. Got a lower level club team. Better game, but still lost. Man these guys HATE to lose, bitch, bitch, bitch, they were kind of hot. Took them back to the Y, there they saw how much they gelled. Saw that they learned to count on each other, not think so much, just play. Brought that last club team back. Lot better game, won by one point.

They didn't only play ball during this time, slid them in the company. Had a lot of meetings told them what my ideas were, asked for more, all together? Put them in their areas not with department heads found old war horses, guys that knew who put what where and why. Knew how to get the job done, met a lot of the grunts. I set a target date, and then slid them in the old mangers' places. Held a lot of going away parties, gave away some gold watches and more. These guys knew it was coming, been told by the Old Man, these were his friends.

The group started out running, sold some of our companies, brought more. Sold others closed some raided them, brought more. Changed markets, dropped some, moved into others. Started new product lines and dropped some. Changed vendors, shippers, and suppliers, everything. Company went into the red, knew it was going to. Went about a year, then started to turn around. Didn't go as far into the red as the Old Man thought it would. People started to learn that they had to run and think. We didn't purposely dump employees, just the ones who didn't learn to run or were dead wood and got left behind. Then we didn't replace them, didn't need them.

The bad times the Old Man foresaw started to come true. We stayed in the black, then went stronger into the black. Group got real tight, solid, but like I wanted it too. Started going out to dinner when we had time, backyard BBQ's like family. You need a shirt, here take mine. 500 bucks? Check or cash? Need a date? Let's go. I'll run wing man, someone will run tail gunner. Group's tight, company in the black, bad times happening, still in the black, changes going good. FUCK... I feel like I'm on top of the world!!

Rolling like a band of brothers brought us to this sports bar on Brentwood. Multi-level bar, multipurpose, found this floor, few high top tables, a few flat screens, dance floor, no music, right now watching baseball. Mike's Yankees and the Reds, pulled up a table facing this big flat screen on the wall, kind of got our backs to the room, no one near us. God I'm so glad we did that low key takeover in the company. I can still go to the bar and have a beer with the group and no one's run up to me trying to suck up to the boss. Even though the company is the largest employer in this city, most people wouldn't even recognize me.

Oh here comes Alex, god she looks good Tom is such lucky man. She comes bouncing down those stairs like a little light bulb. All that red hair, swinging back and forth. Everyone's eyes just seem to follow her, Tom's so lucky. Don't know why I'm in this pensive mood, can't seem to shake it. All this thinking about old times, well not so old times, just a couple of years. Can't shake this mood it's like there's a pregnant pause all over. Almost feels like someone staring at me, hairs on the back of your neck kind of thing. I look around the group, but they're all wound up in the game. Kind of casually glance around the room, don't see anyone watching.

xx

God I just love going out with Janey. I feel kind of bad because I get such a sense of power when we're all dressed up out in a crowd, what a rush. It's almost like there is a whirlpool or a school of fish around us. Just circling out of touch but watching us. I mean just a second ago this guy went by me staring, turning his head backward to follow me, as he walked by. Then rammed right into the man in front and spilled his drink on the guy's back, they almost got in a fight right there. I looked back at Janey and watched her smile, shake her head. You could read it right in her eyes, "not that one." Then she kind of lifts her chin and goes back to scanning the room.

I'm watching her as she stands next to me, got her empty Jagger shot glass hanging in her hand. Hip cocked a little, toe of one of her black CFMs tapping impatiently; face just roaming around, taking in the scenery. God she is so beautiful, right now she's standing under a recessed light that's making her hair just glow. It's shinning there like a small golden water fall. You can almost hear it bubble. Janey's never cut her hair, just enough to get rid of split ends. Sleepovers, slumber parties, nights we drank enough not to drive or didn't want to call a cab. Any time we'd end up together at night, I'd brush her hair. Hundred stokes maybe more, a lot more. I loved to brush her hair, so soft and golden like spun silk. At first I won't even use a brush, just my fingers. Massage her scalp, then drag my fingers though her hair. Fifty maybe a hundred times, then I'd get a brush and start again, real slow, stoke after stoke. No music, no TV, just quiet me and Janey stoke after stoke. I just loved it. Sometimes I think she left it so long just for me. God, the way I sound, you'd think I was gay. She is just so beautiful; I guess if I was going to love another woman like that it would be her. I mean, I've talked about it. I love her and she loves me. Just not like that, not sexual, more like the sister that either one of us has. Just no spark, no fires, just love.

I think that I did such a good job with her outfit tonight. That blouse is black but standing in that light just sparkles. I know it's my silk blouse but it looks so good on her. The arms are short, so she has the cuffs folded over. The bottom is flat, no tails, and it is too short on her. Shows her belly button. OMG (oops) When did she unbutton her jeans? She's only got one button done up on her button fly jeans and no panties, no hair either, oh...shit. She even folded the tops back, now she's got a vee pointing straight...down. She's going to get us kicked out of this place. I can feel my eyes get big and wide, my hand goes to my mouth and I start to giggle, and I can't stop. Janey looks over to me with a question on her face. I drop my eyes down to the front of her pants and giggle. Janey just cocks one eyebrow and gets a half smile on her face. I just shake my head and my finger in front of her nose. She just starts to laugh, I try to frown but I can't, and just giggle. With my finger under her nose I tell her "you can't be a lady if you look like that!" She brings one finger up to her bottom lip, batts her eyes at me "I'm not a lady, I'm a dirty girl."

Janey can really cock her eye brow up, looks like Mr. Spock on Star Trek. She does that just to make me laugh, she used to practice it in a mirror when we were little. I never failed not to burst into giggles. Mr. Brown's math class, she would look over at me, oh, no I'm in trouble soon. Then she would cock that eyebrow up and I would start to giggle. It got sooo bad. After awhile, Mr. Brown would just yell over his shoulder "Janey!!" She got me in trouble so many times, he knew who was doing it.

She was always able to lead me down that garden path into the mud hole. We have so much history together. Toys, dolls, cats, and puppies. Bikes, ponies, and school busses. Slumber parties, and late night cry sessions over boys. Boyfriends: short, tall, long time, short time. Janey had a lot more boyfriends than me. Like I said, we have so much fun going out watching guys. We broke the mold; the rule that says if two girls that run together, one has to be the beautiful one and one the fat or plain jane picking up the leftovers. I always tell Janey, she's so beautiful and she tells me the same, maybe more times. When we're out like this, the guys seem to stare as much at me as Janey. She said that they should if they're not blind. We're standing here just watching the guys, Janey scanning the crowd. Talking about work and things, light chatter, back and forth. Watching Janey as much as the crowd, she watches me just as much.

There is a group of guys across the floor watching the game making a little noise. I see pretty girl come bouncing down the stairs, bright red hair kind of long. Runs up to this guy jumps and pats his arm, excited like, you know? I didn't see how big he is until she's by him. God he's big, what is it about human nature that little girls are attracted big men? Big men to little girls? Redhead runs around the table and grabs the arm of a different guy. As they slid in together, you just see that they fit together like puzzle pieces. For some reason that makes me happy...why? The big guy has his hand on the shoulder of one guys sitting down at the high table. Then he reaches over puts his hand on the head of a different guy, big guy too. Ruffs it like a little boy. The guy slaps his hand off playfully, makes like to punch the big guy. Big guy moves back like to defend himself you know boxing stance. Oh...the muscles under his shirt and skin ripple, trim, fit. They laugh at each other, big guy ruffs the hair again; kind of slap each other back and forth. He moves so easy and fast, strong. Bumps into the other guy then they push each other laughing. Oh, the two guys are the same, twins. Something happens on the game they both turn to watch. Big guy lifts the leg of his slacks to put his foot on the foot ring of the first guys stool. That pulls the pants tight over the ass on his slacks.

Oh...girls, you know this type of ass, so fine. Nothing looks as fine as a good tight butt. This guy's ...Oh. Dress shoes, dark gray slacks, maybe charcoal, blue tint button down shirt. It doesn't matter what his clothes are... I kind of see Janey out of the side of my eye, she's watching me ...The strength of him just moves underneath. I get the strangest feeling that I can faintly smell him. I can't possibly, he's 20 ft away. How can I think... I vaguely feel Janey touch my arm as her fingers slide down, I go to reach for her hand... about his smell, I don't even know him?...I miss touching Janey's hand and just let mine fall...Know him how can I think that? I don't know him. I know that I've never seen him before but something just reaches out from me to him...Side of my eye shows me Janey's stepped closer to me. She's looking right at the side of my face... I can see him start to fidget. He's trying to watch his game and friends. But it's like he can feel me ... I can almost feel her breath. She's trying to talk, to me...watching over his shoulder. He looks around the room like he's trying to... I hear noise. Then I try to force myself to listen to ...see something. Oh...God, I hope he sees me. I want...to Janey. She's talking about her black sister who shot the puppy named Fluffy and her brother...no I need him to see me...Janey stepped real close to me. I can feel her breath on the back of my shoulder...Why is she doing this? Can't she see that I need...her head is right on my shoulder and she's looking for what I'm watching, at my guy, my man. Janey puts both hands on my shoulders then kisses me on my cheek. She steps around me and starts walking toward him. I can hear her heels click on the floor.

xy

This feeling's getting worse. Something is going to happen, but that's crazy, I try to put it off. Push on Gray, whose right in front of me. I reach over to Mick and ruff his hair. He kind of playfully slaps at me and mock throws a punch I step back like to box. Bump back into Gray, and he pushes back. We're all mugging and laughing, Red's get a big hit, we all turn to watch the big screen. MY NECK IS ITCHING. Someone just walked on my grave. I have to turn to see.

AS I start to turn, I hear this click, click heels on the floor. There is a vision walking toward me from across the room. I can't look away. Long tall sex on tall pins. Click, click, the walks not like a model's catwalk or a strut. It's smoother, stronger, like a big cat, one foot after the other, in a line. Tall, long, blond hair, down to her ass, swings back and forth, behind her hips and peeks out like a cat's tail. Tall heels clicking on the floor, light blue jeans, holy...shit. I hear a large indrawn breath behind me from Mick. Than softly from Gray "fuck me." I'm looking that those jeans, holes in the knees, hole in one front pocket, you can see skin though. They must be unbuttoned almost... all... the... way, you can see this vee of skin almost to haven. God damn no panties, they don't make panties that small where you wouldn't see them. A flash of red up by her belly button, must be a stud there. Oh my, the shirt is black and silk and a little small on her, buttons all the way to the neck, but the front is made of water, it must be, it makes waves and swirls, flows back and forth like the tides. You just know what's under there is more than DAMN FINE. As I look toward her face I see a little crack of a smile. She KNOWS where we've been looking and she's laughing at us. Her EYES bright green lasers staring right...at...me.

I look at her face and you can tell she's' not a queen yet, but she will be. Right now she's a fairy princess, beautiful features with sharp lines. This girls' tough, but face like a princess. I hear from behind me "Would you look at that? WOW!" Must be Alex. The guys would cuss. Sure enough from further back "well fuck me running." The blond hears Alex and the other, cocks an eyebrow, now that looks wild. She still hasn't looked away from my eyes. Those green lasers are starting to get a little uncomfortable. She walks right up in my space.

Just stares at me, looks in my eyes, like she's counting me. Measuring something, tilts her head like a little bird, seems now like she's looking right though me to something on the other side of the great beyond. Feels like she's stared at me for about half an hour, probably ten seconds or more. Blond noticed Alex coming to her, those two look at each other a little bit. Neither says anything. Some spooky weird female woo...woo going on. Alex tips and looks back across the floor and the blond nods very small. Alex looks to me and I kind of shrug, wipe my face with my hand.

I don't know what the fuck is going on and it's starting to piss me off. Alex smiles at me. Nods to the blond, lays a hand on her arm and smiles. She turns and goes back to Tom. Blond is looking at me and I can see the sparkle just run right out of her. Mouth makes a little oh. Then she turns and walks back across the floor, click click. I hear from Gray "backs not as good as the front. What the fuck was that about?" I'm watching her go back across the floor and the walks not as strong and slower. Hair looks as if someone kicked the shine out of it. Not swinging back and forth.

Something changed!! As she gets across the floor she walks right in front of this tiny girl. I see her reach for the girl's purse and take something out. The last I see of the blond is as she looks back over her shoulder at me. Her FACE is SO SAD, I feel as if something died. As the blond steps aside as Alex's voice is in my ear "you just took away her heart, but she gave you her soul" It just rolled off me like water, because when the curtain stepped aside the sun rose...RED.