Real Love Ch. 05

"I bet the view is amazing from up there," Brad mutters.

"The sunsets are rather spectacular as it faces west, with the pool right below. Facing east are spectacular sunrises, which you can see by going out the back door, from your master bedroom, onto the balcony," Charles replies. "Now, to the right of the pool is a bar and restaurant with four small guest suites along its length."

"Sorry to interrupt, Charles," Brad says as he looks at the building. "Is it okay if I smoke out here? I don't know what the rules are, and..."

Charles raises his hand in the air and snaps his fingers. One of the staff appears from inside the house.

"Bring Master Bradley an ashtray... Wait!"

The old man turns back to them.

"Where are my manners? What would you like to drink, Master Bradley?"

Brad shrugs, not really knowing. It's too hot for coffee and he feels tired and grubby from the travel and a lack of sleep.

"Some fruit juice or something?"

"Two orange, pineapple and banana juices please, Ellen," Kelly jumps in, addressing the member of staff directly.

She nods and disappears.

"I hope that's okay? It's nice and refreshing, Brad."

"It sounds it."

Brad takes out his cigarettes and lights up.

"The building to the left of the pool is four business suites on the lower floor and five VIP suites. The second floor has six guest suites, the far ones smaller than the near ones. The business suite continues through to the ground floor of the right tower and links up with the main social room."

"That's a lot of business suites," Brad notes.

"Mr Packard liked to conduct business here. There are three rooms in each business suite, each equipped with a flat screen and bluetooth technology to be able to connect to most any device, including a sound system," Charles replies. "On the middle floor of each of the towers are large suites, identical in size to your own. Your sisters will reside in them, Peggy on the right and Stacy on the left."

"So, on either side of mine then?"

"That's correct, Master Bradley."

"Okay," he nods, not entirely sure what to say next because he's quite overwhelmed at it all.

"That leaves the ground floor of the right tower, which contains a small cinema. The long building on the right side of the pool has a couple of meeting rooms and some staff facilities. The rest of the building has smaller apartments for the staff assistants, as many as eight. The top floors of each of the towers are used to house our communications equipment and IT infrastructure."

"Server rooms?"

The old man shrugs.

"It's a little more complicated than that, but in essence, yes."

"That's a lot of room."

"Yes, Master Bradley," Charles replies. "Now, if you'll excuse me for a few minutes, I'll go and check on your suite."

As the old man disappears into the house, Brad looks around.

"This place is stunning. How do you get any work done here? I'd just be sitting around looking at the breathtaking scenery all day."

Kelly chuckles.

"You'll get used to it."

Brad smiles, gets up and walks over to the edge of the deck, with Kelly not far behind him, where it looks over the ocean. The view is spectacular, miles and miles of ocean stretching into the distance. As he takes that in, his legs are getting weak again so he sits in one of the chairs.

"Where do you stay when you're here?"

"I have an apartment that I share with Debi Gilbert, one of the other executive assistants. It's just to the right of the pool as you go out the main house, on the second floor, but because of everything that's going on, I'll be temporarily staying in one of your en-suite bedrooms."

Brad cocks an eyebrow at that.

"If that's okay with you, of course?" she adds.

"Holy shit," Brad mutters. "My suite is the whole floor?"

She nods, smiling.

"The whole floor. Taking a bit of getting used to?"

"Yeah, you could say that."

Ellen appears with the ashtray for Brad and two large glasses of fruit juice on ice, garnished with straws and orange wedges on the rim of the glass. Brad sips at the drink, finding it delicious and refreshing.

"Thanks, Helen," he says as she smiles, dips and disappears again.

Having staff to answer his beck and call is something that seems really bizarre to Brad, so he's determined to know their names at the very least.

"Brad," Kelly says, a grin on her face.

"Yeah?"

"Her name is Ellen, not Helen."

"Oh, balls," Brad grunts. "So much for learning their names."

"If you want to do that we'll get the staff to wear name badges for a while," she suggests.

"That would be helpful," Brad nods. "I suck at remembering names, but the idea of having staff at my beck and call is... odd. Know what I mean?"

"As the primary member of your personal staff, the idea doesn't seem odd to me at all," she laughs. "Just try and relax if you can. Want to run through your schedule for the day? There's a lot to do."

Brad nods and sits down at a small table just outside the bar.

"Go for it."

"Okay, once we've seen your suite, we're off to see Doctor Kerr, the Island's physician to give you a checkup and any inoculations you're behind on. If we have time after that we can get you in to see the Dentist for a quick checkup. Margaret will want to fit you for a tailored suit, explain your wardrobe to you and then we'll get you to the salon for a haircut."

"It sounds like I'm on Extreme Makeover," Brad mutters.

Kelly chuckles.

"It's actually all about getting you looking good to meet your sisters," she says as she gives him a pointed look, then adds, "For the first time."

Brad frowns, not needing the reminder of her underlying message.

"Okay. Very sneaky of you."

She smiles.

"I've got about three hours cleared for you to get some sleep, assuming you're going to need it," Kelly continues. "Once Mr Alden arrives with your sisters, the three of you will be in a meeting with him so that he can read you Mr Packard's will and then I've got time set aside with you to answer any questions you'll have."

"Do you know what's in it? The will, I mean."

Kelly pauses, then nods. "Yes, but I can't tell you what it says. I'm not allowed, and anyway, it's only a few hours away."

Brad frowns, then nods.

"So what else?"

"Well, there's lunch, dinner too, and some time for you to chat with Peggy and Stacy. I can tell you that Mr Packard is keen for the three of you to get to know each other, so over the next few days you'll be spending lots of time together."

"Doing what?"

"Briefings, meetings, activities, meals," Kelly says. "Nothing is firmed up yet for times and dates, but I'll be managing your schedule carefully to make sure you're not snowed under, okay?"

"And don't accept any meetings myself," Brad states, remembering her advice.

"Correct."

As Brad stubs out his cigarette, she catches sight of Charles on the balcony, beckoning them up.

"Looks like your suite's ready," Kelly says, rising to her feet.

"Okay," Brad says, as he grabs his glass, after he stands, and slowly follows her.

She leads him into the central building and up the stairs, back along a landing, and then, he's out on the balcony overlooking the pool.

"Oh, wow," he mutters. "It looks even better from up here. So beautiful."

"As I said, Master Bradley," Charles replies, "wait until the sun sets..." then turns to the building, saying, "This is your suite. Your home Master Bradley."

"The master suite is composed of: a master bedroom with its own bathroom, dressing room and a small private office; two en-suite bedrooms and; a main lounge that has a TV area, a rather large lounge area and an office area. The middle of the room is wide and spacious, more polished wood floors lead to a series of individual white walls, angled to break up the view of whatever is behind them. The polished floors you can't slide across because the polish is a material that prevents slips, trips and falls, even if they're wet."

"Impressive."

"If you'll follow me, Master Bradley."

Brad turns around and looks as he enters the large room. The glass doors are folded back along the entire length of the balcony revealing a bright, wide room.

"The main lounge in the suite is separated into three distinct areas; the TV area or small cinema, the lounge area and the office area. The office area has several desks, computers and phones. Between that and the lounge area in the middle is the entrance to the master bedroom and one en-suite bedroom. The TV area has a large 80" flat screen TV, surround sound and several seating arrangements. The large lounge area in the middle has a fireplace several leather sofas and chairs all around," Charles continues.

Entering the large lounge area, he explains that the sofa's are the winnings of a wager between Danny Packard and Steve Jobs and the wooden coffee table between them was crafted by Harrison Ford as a gift. Brad didn't quite know what to say, finding it all very surreal.

"There are two entrances to each en-suite bedroom and the master bedroom. One for each is located off the lounge and the other is an external access door to the balcony," Charles explains.

"The en-suite bedrooms are as sound proof as the master bedroom. In event of an emergency, special hidden emergency activation buttons has been placed in several areas of all suites. The master bedroom, on the second floor of each tower also has an en-suite bath, dressing room and bedroom, all with comfort and luxury in the forefront of the designer."

He follows the old man through a hallway and sees an entrance to the en-suite bedroom off to the right as he enters his master bedroom to the left. Directly in front of him is a very large bed, a four poster draped at the corners with fine linen. To either side of it the white walls curved from the sides to the back, with archways in each.

"To your left is your en-suite bathroom, Master Bradley," Charles explains. "Over on the right is your dressing room. Your luggage has been unpacked, although many of the items are being pressed and will be returned within the hour."

"This is my bedroom?" Brad asks, looking around.

A couple of big armchairs placed to the right with another TV on the wall, while the left side of the room is covered in bookcases.

"This is it, Brad," Kelly tells him. "You past the entrance to my en-suite just over there," she adds, pointing to the right at the bedroom he spotted as they came in.

"This is messed up," he mutters, feeling really awkward.

He's never been in such luxury in his life, let alone inheriting it. The idea of being an owner of this paradise is overwhelming, but being an owner is not the most important thing to him at the moment, then Brad feels extraordinarily weak and Kelly notices.

"Can you give us a minute please Charles," Kelly says quickly.

Seeing Brad's condition, the old man disappears. She takes Brad by the elbow and steered him over to the bed and sits him down.

"Are you okay?"

He spread his hands, looking around.

"This is insane. These sheets are like nothing I have ever felt."

Kelly frowns.

"Maybe you should get some sleep, Brad. You'll feel better for it."

Brad shrugs, knowing he is exhausted, but there's just too much going on in his head.

"I don't think I can sleep if I tried."

"Try," she says firmly. "What's your usual sleeping habits?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you sleep on one side of the bed in particular? Do you wear pajamas or sleep in the nude? Do you usually read, or watch TV, or just shut your eyes until you drift off?"

"Let's see. I usually sleep on the right side of the bed and I don't wear pyjamas," he explains.

"You sleep in the nude?"

Brad blushes a little, but nods.

Kelly shrugs.

"It's no biggie. Me too. What about before you drift off?"

Brad grins sheepishly.

"Ok," Kelly says immediately, "probably time we had a frank discussion, actually."

Brad sits upright, wondering where this is going.

"I worked for your father for a long time. It's a demanding job, often with eighteen hour days, meetings, office days, social events, vacations, everywhere he went, I went."

"Okay."

"You can't work that closely with someone without knowing a lot about them personally," she continues. "When it came to Mr Packard, I knew almost everything."

"Like personal stuff?"

"Very personal stuff," she nods. "Intimate stuff. I can't tell you how many times I've seen him naked, or he's seen me naked. When you pretty much live with someone in hotel rooms, places like this, or you're getting changed in a limo between a meeting and a social engagement, personal modesty becomes a bit of a nuisance."

"It kind of sounds a bit... above and beyond the job description," Brad says, not really sure where she's going with this.

The thought of seeing Kelly naked at some point definitely holds a great deal of appeal though.

"Let me give you a hypothetical example," she says, grinning. "You lie down here and go to sleep. I come and wake you up in a few hours and you need to urinate. What does that mean?"

"I need to go to the bathroom," Brad shrugs.

She rolls her eyes.

"If you're asleep and you need to urinate, how does your body react?"

"Oh," Brad says quickly. "I get an... erection."

"Right," she nods. "So I come in to wake you up, you're sleeping on your back with only a sheet covering you and you've got a bad case of morning wood," Kelly says and grins. "Do you think I'm not going to notice?"

Brad laughs.

"Okay. So I won't sleep on my back."

She shakes her head.

"The point I'm making is that this and stuff like this will happen over and over again. At some point I'll see things, you'll see things, and it's important that you don't get all bent out of shape about it."

Brad just shakes his head saying, "Another bizarre conversation amidst a series of bizarre experiences."

"Let me give you another example," she continues. "From time to time Mr Packard would entertain... female company. I would sometimes make the arrangements."

"You mean hookers?" Brad asks bluntly, frowning.

Kelly laughs and shakes her head.

"Do you honestly think Mr Packard had to pay someone to sleep with him?"

Brad thought back to all the times he's seen him in magazines or on the TV, often with a model, actress or singer on his arm. He was a common recurrence on the top 100 bachelors lists on a frequent basis. He also liked that he went out with some of the most beautiful women in the world, but that's where it ended.

"I guess not," he replies. "But then, some people like that."

"They do," Kelly nods. "If that's something you're into then I can arrange that for you too."

"Hookers?"

She nods calmly as if it's like ordering a sandwich.

"Sure."

"Not really my cup of tea Kelly," Brad says, shaking his head.

She smiles.

"I didn't think so. That's good for me. However, if you're attending film premieres or public events, sometimes it will be good for your profile to have someone on your arm."

"A girl?"

"Yes, or a guy if you're so inclined, but more specifically a public figure. Actors, musicians, models, TV presenters. We tend to steer clear of the reality TV crowd."

"No guy dates, just women please. So you arrange stuff like that?"

"Sure," Kelly nods. "Sometimes it's only for walking the carpet, get a few pictures. Sometimes it's a real date. Occasionally it's a hookup."

"Holy shit. Talk about a different world," Brad says.

"That's one of the million reasons why I'm here, Brad," she reminds him. "It's primarily business but I'm here to help you personally too. There's lots to learn and I'm here to help. Now, back to the topic at hand, getting you some sleep."

"Yeah."

"I'm gonna be blunt here, Brad. Sometimes it's the best way," she says, looking him in the eye. "Lots of people masturbate before they go to sleep. Do you?"

Brad laughs, unable to hide the slight blush that hit his cheeks.

"And I thought all this was insane before."

"You'll get used to it. If I know this now, then it means I won't be walking in on you midway through."

"Okay, fair enough. Yeah, I do sometimes, but not on a regular basis."

His thought flits to Stacy and Peggy, the inspiration for many of his late night fantasies. He pushes those thoughts away, knowing that to think of that now is kinda fucked up.

"Okay. I'm more of a shower girl myself," Kelly adds, shrugging. "Fair's fair, so if you tell me, I'll tell you."

"That's gonna mess with my head," Brad says, grinning.

"You'll get over it," Kelly chuckles.

"You sure? In the last five minutes you've talked about me having erections, told me we'll see each other naked tons of times and told me how you play with yourself in the shower. You do realize you're really HOT, right?"

Kelly laughs.

"Oh, I know where this conversation is headed and I'm telling you, accept it right now that it's never going to happen, Brad."

"What? Me and you?"

The idea is tantalizing, and maybe it's lack of sleep, but Brad decides to throw caution to the wind.

"I think it might be a great idea."

"Never gonna happen, Brad," she says, smiling. "It never happened with Mr Packard and it's not going to happen with you. We won't have that type of relationship."

Brad chuckles.

"Well that's a bit depressing."

"Let me clarify something. You've seen your friends Ed and Casey naked, right?"

Brad screws up his face.

"Why did you have to put that thought in my head?"

Kelly chuckles.

"They're your friends, right? You sometimes see things with them, but it doesn't make it a sexual thing. You don't actively look, but sometimes you see stuff. Sometimes you even joke about it, right?"

"I guess."

"Well, think of me that way."

Brad chuckles.

"You know you're a woman though and they're guys, right?"

"As I said, you'll get used to it. We won't cross that line though, okay? I can't do my job if things start getting weird... or emotional. Know what I mean?"

Brad sees she's being serious and meets her gaze.

"I hear what you're saying," he says finally. "There'll be moments, but if we talk about it now, then it won't be a big deal when it happens and we can just move on, right?"

"Pretty much."

"You know you're HOT though, right?" Brad grins.

"Okay, I know it, Brad, but I don't flaunt it and I don't use it to my advantage. It's not who I am. I try to keep a low profile because of my position here. I know at some point you'll get drunk and make a move on me. I'll have to put you in your bed and mock you mercilessly for days about it. I know at some point I might even get a bit smitten with you, but I'll get over it," she shrugs. "The gist of this conversation is, you can talk to me about anything. I'll help you out with whatever you want or need, no judgements, but there is a line. That's my job. Fair enough?"

Brad frowns but nods.

"I guess so. This couldn't have been easy for you to bring up."

Kelly laughs.

"I've been planning this conversation in my head for two days."

"Did it go as planned?"

"Nowhere near it," she laughs. "But I think we're pretty clear on where we stand, right?"

"Yeah," Brad nods, actually feeling closer to her now as a result of it.

Kelly grins.

"And you also know that it's not an invitation to just walk in on me when I'm showering?"

Brad chuckles.

"Well, the temptation will be there, but I'll try really hard to restrain myself."

"Good," she says. "Now try and get some sleep. And if you need some female company, just let me know. There's a very good masseuse who works on the Island, and she's certainly enthusiastic."

Brad's eyes widens.

"You mean?"

"I mean she was about to go into a career in porn because she's that enthusiastic."

"You're kidding?"

"Nope."

"So that's why she works on the Island?" Brad asks, his eyebrows raised.