The Phoenix and the Ice Queen Pt. 03

"So all things the same, I'd much rather change my last name to be the same as the man I love and respect, and who makes me happier than I've ever been, than keep my name. That name is the name of a thing I detest with every fiber of my being and has brought me nothing but pain and suffering my entire life. Especially since it is simply for the sake of making a point. No point is worth that Andi, ever."

Andi nodded and said, "If that's how you feel I support your decision and I think it's a wise one."

Mel let out a sigh of relief then then smiled and looked at her mom and said, "Plus, this way she can be free of him as well. After all, you've always said you've only kept his name all these years because it was my name, after April it won't be mine anymore."

"Which means she finally has no reason to keep it, Kelly you can finally change your name back to your maiden name, I never thought of that." Andi said looking at Mel's mom who smiled and hugged her daughter.

With the name issue behind them, things wedding related went a lot smoother, however things at work for Mel were not going great. It turned out to be a good thing Katy had pushed back the wedding, because Mel's latest department she was evaluating was taking much longer than expected. After three or four successes in the months she had had the role, each having taken only a few weeks to sort out, Mel anticipated being done well before the wedding stress and jitters began. Her latest assignment was not proving so easy, and the blame could be laid in one place, Jeff Yates. While Mel was right in that Yates did not have a ton of leverage himself, Brandon had been right he had powerful backers and was great at causing a nuisance.

It appeared that up until now Mel had been cleaning up parts of the former Genotech that Yates' cronies did not really care about, but now she had hit a piece they cared about and were, indirectly through Jeff, making noise. From what Brandon could gather, Jeff had come in on Mel's first day blustering about leaving certain names be, and how there was no need to evaluate the department, just use the list he provided and move on. Mel, being Mel, and wanting to do her job correctly, and besides feeling Yates was full of hot air in general, kicked him out of her office and did a more thorough review anyways.

Mel was of the opinion Yates was full of hot air both because of what Brandon had said, and because he had tried to blackmail Mel in May. He had threatened to reveal she was having a secret relationship with Brandon, if she did not spare one of his friends from cuts. Unfortunately for him, Mel's ring had been slightly too large and was simply being resized, so he could not see she had gotten engaged that weekend. His threat lost its effect when later that day, Fred proudly announced Mel and Brandon's engagement to all of Proud Stone, thus making a fool of Jeff. After that it could be understandable Mel had little respect, and utter dislike, for the man.

What played out over the weeks following Mel's refusal to bow to the Genotech crony recommendations was that they tried to make her life hell. Mel pushed on following procedure, so Jeff spread a rumor that cooperating with her would lead to dismissal, and that she didn't have the authority to dismiss anyone until she had met with someone. As a result, he convinced everyone to refuse to participate in Mel's process. Mel tried to evaluate the department other ways and came to the unfortunate conclusion that, given the department numbers, if she could not isolate individual performance and motivation, which was hard to do without cooperation from anyone in the department, she would be forced to conclude that everyone was the problem. This meant a total gut of the department, to wipe the slate clean and rebuild, something she did not want to do, knowing there were people there that had been scared into doing this by Yates. Ironically for them, siding with Yates would cost them their jobs. She regretfully made that recommendation to Michael just weeks before the wedding, and he agreed it was unfortunate, but also the right course of action.

The backlash was immediate, as word spread of what Mel had done. Brandon heard from members of his team, since people were careful not to say it where he could hear, that people had begun resurrecting the old term of 'Ice Queen.'

Brandon mentioned that development to Mel and she just smiled. She clearly did not mind having her nickname back. Brandon was sorry she had to be so tough on that last review, but glad she was still Mel. She was so smiley lately and with her wanting a super girly wedding he was afraid he had changed her too much. When he told her this, she laughed and kissed him saying she was still her. She was now just an insanely happy person who could be herself, and had something to fight for in her life, finally.

He had the feeling, with all the backlash, she would need that fighting spirit. Sure enough, it all came to a head as, just before his birthday, they were called into a meeting with Fred, and found Michael, and an unknown man there as well.

"Mel, Brandon, good to see you again, please have a seat." Michael said once the door had closed. Brandon and Mel exchanged looks and found chairs across the table. Once they were seated Michael cleared his throat and began, "So, clearly you weren't expecting me at this meeting, and I'm sure Fred here has told you little about what this has to do with. Officially, I'm here to reprimand Mel for firing an entire department without authorization." Anticipating Mel's objection Michael raised his hand, "Before you object Mel, we of course all know that is a load of bull, I signed off on your recommendation. It was the right call in the situation, and I stand behind it. However, it turns out that Brandon's warning," and seeing Brandon's puzzled look Michael smiled, "didn't trust your fiancée to take that up the chain did you Brandon?"

Brandon cleared his throat and tactfully said, "No, I ah, of course trusted Mel to look into it, she said she would. I just didn't expect that to involve you. Jeff is a little weasel, and a problem, but hardly one for the CEO to be involved with."

The unknown man spoke up then and said, "No offense Mr. Metcalf, but when he has powerful friends hijacking the board, he's everyone's problem, especially Mr. King's."

"Yes, well put Lee. By the way I don't think you've all me before. Mel, and Brandon, this is Lee Oliver. We'll get to why Lee is here in a minute, but it has a lot to do with the unofficial purpose of this meeting. As Lee said though, I do not like people messing with my company, and that's exactly what Yates' friends are doing. It all stems from the buyout.

"When we bought Genotech we weren't able to get a lot of the existing brass to give up their hold. We got enough to get control of it and force it into our fold. However, the existing brass wanted a ridiculous golden parachute deal to sell us their shares, and get out of our way. I don't really believe in rewarding failure, nor did I need the bad press if word got out I paid off the Genotech execs responsible for not only endangering hundreds of lives, but near ruining the life and career of one of my employees I had publicly gone to bat for."

"Which I really appreciate Mr. King," Brandon said.

"Please Brandon I've told you call me Michael, and I was glad to do it, and you've proven more than worth the risk in your time here, but we digress. So, I rejected their offer, they had little leverage so they slinked away into the shadows. They are the reason Mel got her assignment in the first place, I had a feeling there was a time bomb hidden somewhere in my flip project. So, after her success in Alliance's biggest area of liability, I set her on the task of trying to find the landmines. Obviously, she seems to have hit a nerve in her latest assignment. As I expected she handled it as well as could be handled and certainly left a message statement. Things should be easier going forward, but Mel's last assignment revealed just how nasty the problem is. Which is the reason for Lee. Lee will be leading a secret team formed to figure out who of the key leadership is for lack of a better phrase, on my team, and who is not.

"Which why the official reason for this meeting, is a reprimand. The fact that Mel has effectively united our opposition against her, makes this a perfect opportunity to make some tactical moves that will help in the long run. The first of which is to install Lee here as an oversight officially."

"But really, I'm on your team, me and my team will be kind of like air support clearing the path for you once we get up and running. Unfortunately, until we do I might be a bit of a nuisance and kind of butting in on your projects," Lee said.

"Which brings me nicely to the next point, we are going to tactically reassign your next department to be one the Yates cronies have recommended, for a few reasons. It makes it look like we're not on to them. It gives Lee time to get his team up to speed, and since it lasts until mid-May, it allows you two to focus on your wedding and honeymoon instead of Jeff Yates. So it's a win-win on all fronts."

Brandon exchanged glances with Mel who looked majorly relieved and said, "While we appreciate that, besides that last part how am I involved?"

"That's simple, just keep doing what you are doing. The work you've done, as well as the stuff you have in development has made a lot of important people a lot of money. Which makes it much easier to find support for this, given the employee being unfairly targeted is the golden gooses soon to be wife."

After that they discussed the logistics of how things would work with Lee in the mix. Michael then asked about how the wedding was coming along, before ending the meeting.

With work set to be easier in the coming weeks, the happy couple turned their focus to Brandon's birthday, and the wedding.

Chapter 4

The first and easiest of those two came a week later, and Mel made sure to make the day memorable, but hinted his best surprise would be at the end of the night. Brandon had an idea what it would be, but did not want to make any assumptions. After a delicious dinner out, Mel took him back to her place and, as he guessed, stripped for him. Once she was naked though, things went a bit differently.

For one thing she had him strip too, then laid him on the bed, before she blindfolded him.

She then leaned down, and whispered in his ear, "Ok honey, just relax and enjoy this. Whatever happens, don't move, ok?" He nodded, and she began.

She started kissing and caressing him all over, starting at his mouth and working her way down his body, and by the time she got to his crotch, he was rock hard. She teasingly licked and kissed his cock, before giving it a light suck, then pulled away. He was about to complain, but when he opened his mouth, he found a nipple stuffed in it. He sucked one nipple until she moaned, then was fed the other, before Mel kissed him deeply.

As they were making out, he felt someone climb on top of him, and straddle his hips. He then felt Mel's hand hold his cock up straight before, what was definitely a very warm, wet pussy, descended on his hard shaft.

As he felt the woman's pubic bone meet his own, meaning he was fully in her, he was pretty sure something fishy was going on. The ease at which she slid onto him made him positive it could not be Mel's pussy. So, who was he fucking, or rather who was fucking him?

He opened his mouth to ask, but Mel shushed him. Placing her finger over his lips she leaned to his ear and whispered, "Do you like it?" The other woman began rising and falling on his shaft and Brandon nodded, "then just enjoy it, happy birthday honey."

The rider, as he began to think of her, whoever she was, began to go really fast. It was clear she had done this before. She definitely knew what she was doing, and knew how to make it feel good for both of them. While lost in the feeling of the woman riding him, he could not help but wonder just who Mel had convinced to do this. He knew she would not hire someone, meaning it was either someone random, or someone she vaguely knew. As he did not imagine she had been trolling bars for a woman to fuck her fiancée, he figured it was the latter, and since that list did not include a lot of women, he had a good idea whom it was.

The rider let a moan slip she had clearly been trying to suppress, but had been unable to, and he immediately understood why she had tried to stay silent. Upon hearing the moan, Brandon was almost positive he knew who the mystery rider was, and it somehow made weird sense that Mel would ask her.

The moans got louder and he could tell his partner was nearing her climax, and she had him agonizingly close as well. When she cried out and came, her walls clamped down on his hard shaft, this made it so he could no longer hold back, and he released his load into her still spasming pussy.

When Brandon had recovered, he felt the rider getting off him. Thinking quickly, he reached up, apparently catching both women by surprise, grabbed the rider somewhere by the torso and pulled her body to him. He felt two massive bare tits make contact with his bare chest and smiled.

"I knew it," he said, "Why hello Katy, what brings you to this bedroom." Without waiting for Katy's answer he spoke to the room in general, "Darling can I take this off yet, since I not only know what the surprise is, but who? Or am I not allowed to see the woman that just fucked me, naked?"

In answer, Katy wriggled free, and he felt her small hands remove the blindfold.

"Katy!" Mel said surprised.

"What?" Katy asked shrugging her shoulders, "He knows it's me Mel, and the man has a point, he just came in me. I think he has the right to see me naked and trust me Alex won't mind. This little joyride will get me off his case for several months I think."

Mel just shrugged and Katy sat up to give Brandon a better view of her petite body. The little blonde was gorgeous, and he almost got hard just looking at her straddling him, still with his cock in her. Her most prominent feature, her massive tits, looked even better naked and up close, but she was definitely a sight to behold.

She smiled at his look, and rolling off him to lay next to him she said, "I bet you have a bunch of questions, but if you don't mind I'm going to lay here for a few minutes, being on top is hard work. I mean totally worth it, but it wears you out."

Katy forestalled any questions by launching into a modified version of her earlier story.

"The first thing you should know is that Alex is gay, always has been, always will be."

It turned out Katy was having trouble finding a man that would meet her dad's standards and treat Katy like a human being and not property. Alex was gay, but was afraid to come out to his ultra-religious and conservative family. They had met on a singles cruise their mothers had sent them on and worked out a deal. Alex got the trophy wife his parents expected him to marry. As for Katy, she brought her parents a son-in-law with enough business connections and ambition to satisfy their needs, while getting to marry a man she genuinely loved and doted on her. It was a good arrangement for everyone except one thing, Alex refused to have sex with her, ever. It disgusted him to have sex with a woman, and not even to try to get pregnant, could he bring himself to fuck her.

When Mel had found out about this talking to Katy over a planning session and some wine, she had gotten an idea. Like Katy and Alex, Mel and Brandon had a sex issue. Katy needed to get laid badly especially with the stress of planning a wedding and being away from Alex, and Mel still would not quite be ready to fuck Brandon in time for his birthday. So the pair made an agreement, Katy would be Mel's proxy that way she got laid, and Mel could surprise Brandon with sex for his birthday.

"Which judging by the amount of semen you pumped into me, I'd say you needed, badly. Katy said giggling. Then she got a bit more serious, and whispered in his ear, "as did I, so thank you." She then kissed him on the cheek.

"Um speaking of which, do we have to worry? I mean, I just came in you with no condom."

"Oh, no I'm on the pill and I'm disease free." Katy said.

"It hurts you'd think I didn't think of that already Honey." Mel said looking a bit irritated. Brandon supposed her idea or not, him laying naked with another woman was probably not sitting well with her, so he excused himself to go to the bathroom. When he got back, both women were dressing. Katy gave him another kiss on the cheek, and hugged Mel, then left.

Mel showed her out, then locked up, and joined Brandon in bed.

"So, was it a good surprise?" she asked and Brandon nodded, "was it weird?"

"Kind of, but I definitely appreciate the thought. Did it help you at all?"

Mel thought then said, "Surprisingly, yes. Quite a bit actually. I'm not ready to take a ride right now, but it helped to see that she enjoyed herself. She clearly had no issue with getting you in, or taking all of you. I was worried you'd be too big for me, but she's tiny and she took you pretty easily so, I'm less concerned. After watching her get off fucking you I'm kind of excited to try that myself. I still need sometime though, but I think I can be ready for our honeymoon."

"Well, it was a great surprise for sure, and I'm glad it helped. The honeymoon will be great Darling, if you're not ready by then though its not a big deal. I'll live, just as long as you keep trying thats good enough for me for now."

Mel smiled and kissed him, "glad to hear it."

Chapter 5

With Brandon's birthday behind them, the wedding seemed so close, and soon it was time for the bachelor and bachelorette parties. Brandon kept his fairly low key just going to a game. Katy and the Committee of Four had something elaborate planned for her night out. Brandon was taking the opportunity to get some unpacking done, as he had recently moved in. His lease had ended a few months before hers, so while they looked for a house, and waited for her lease to run out, he had moved in with her. Brandon was midway through his fourth or fifth box and watching a movie enjoying his night to himself, since he had been told Mel would be at a hotel for the night, when he heard a car alarm go off on the street. Looking out the window he figured out it was his and used his key thob to turn it off. Maybe he had bumped the button by accident.

He went back to unpacking, when the alarm sounded again. Again, he figured he just had bumped it and turned it off and this time left his keys on the coffee table. It went off a third time not too long after. Cursing, Brandon grabbed his keys and stormed out of the apartment to see what was going on, either he had a really determined and clumsy thief, or a major annoyance.

When he got out to his car he found a very drunk man leaning on it in the shadows. It was clear that though he was drunk the man had obviously been trying to lure him out here, for what reason Brandon had no idea, but he had been lured for sure.

"Who are you, and why do you keep setting off my damn car alarm?"

"As if you don't know." The man slurred out angrily.

"No, I honestly don't."

"Well you should! After all you ARE marrying my daughter, aren't you!" The words were slurred so badly it sounded more like a question than a statement.

Brandon suddenly understood who the man was, this was Frank Murphy, Mel's so-called father.

"Go home Frank, you shouldn't be here. For both our sakes just turn around and go."

"You think I'm scared of that bitch daughter of mine? I can see you are, you little pussy."

Brandon laughed, "You should be scared of her Frank, I'd take her in a fight over your drunk ass any day, even if you were sober." This was saying something as Frank was only a few inches shorter than Brandon and, he could tell had once been a powerful man, but living in poverty and the drink had clearly taken their effect. Mel, a workout junkie always in top shape and trained in god knows what self-defense, probably because her father had been a big bully, would have wiped the floor with him in his current state. "No, I just don't need the hassle of enforcing the restraining order you idiot."