Forever Yours
PART III
"As long as there is an AI shortcoming in any such area of endeavor, skeptics will point to that area as an inherent bastion of permanent human superiority over the capabilities of our own creations. This book will argue, however, that within several decades, information-based technologies will encompass all human knowledge and proficiency, ultimately including the pattern-recognition powers, problem-solving skills, and emotional and moral intelligence of the human brain itself."
— Ray Kurzweil, The Singularity is Near
29
Investing
“WHAT THE FUCKING HELL?” Isobel shouted.
Henry looked down at himself.
“Sorry,” he said. “Someone was screaming my name and pounding on the door upstairs. I didn’t take time to dress.”
“I don’t fucking care about that!” Isobel shouted. “Fuck whoever you want to. Congratulations. What is this?” She shoved her cell phone in front of his face. Henry pushed it back a little so he could see the numbers in focus. $25,000,000.00.
“Oh. I didn’t expect that to hit until late today. Sorry you drove all the way over here on a school day. I intended to tell you about it tomorrow.”
“Did you sell the company, Henry?” Luke asked. It was all either of them could imagine would result in a deposit that size to their LLC account and not directly into the corporate account.
“No,” Henry said. “Kind of a limited license. I need to go get my clothes. I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.”
He closed Luke and Isobel out and returned to Lisa. She was sitting up in bed, her beautiful breasts on display for him.
“Do you have to leave?” she asked, moving her legs apart.
“Oh, geez. I wish not. My partners just discovered everything that happened yesterday and I need to go settle them down a little.”
“Go ahead,” she said, getting out of bed and wrapping her arms around him. “I don’t think I could cram that thing into me again today. I’d try, though.”
“Lise, let’s not hurt ourselves. As soon as I get the crisis settled down out there, we can go back to the plan of spending the weekend in front of the TV with snacks and each other.”
“I’ll be snacking on you,” she giggled, handing him his underwear. She opened a dresser drawer and found underwear for herself while he dressed.
“I think the four of us—as in Luke, Isobel, Chastity, and me—will probably go to the club for lunch while we discuss business,” he said, not sure if Lisa was planning to join him.
“I’m going over to the U. I can still make our last class this afternoon. I want to see what that army captain looks like,” Lisa answered. “Be sure to explain why the apartment and office are posted like an Army base.”
“Yeah. I didn’t expect them to drive over this morning. I figured the earliest they’d get here would be tomorrow. I need to get out there before Isobel becomes even more hysterical.”
He kissed Lisa again and hugged her, then left to join his partners.
“I have to tell you about everything that happened. It’s my fault that the Army was interested, but the Army might be what is keeping me out of the hands of the FBI or the CIA,” Henry said when they sat at lunch at the club.
“What the hell happened?” Luke asked.
“You remember last Friday? We discovered an attack on the corporate server, attempting to break through our firewalls. We presume the intent was to steal our AI research,” Henry began.
“We were here. You told us about that,” Isobel said.
“There was more. Lisa and I were told to keep quiet until the university could divert suspicion. I intended to tell you this weekend anyway.”
He went through all the steps that led to destroying the hackers, and the subsequent discovery that he’d knocked out ten percent of China’s Internet infrastructure.
“Chastity gave the colonel the routing information and account for the LLC. I felt it would be easier to keep buried there than having it paid directly to the company.”
“Do you know how much tax we’re going to owe on twenty-five million?” Isobel asked, shaking her head. “You might as well have just given it all away.”
“Oh. I forgot to mention that the money is a government reward and is tax-free. Or post-tax dollars or something like that,” Henry said.
“Twenty-five million,” Chastity sighed.
“I think it takes care of our next round of funding for the company and we don’t lose any control,” Henry said.
“You don’t,” Luke said. “You have twenty-five mil to invest.”
“Uh… I don’t see it that way,” Henry said. “When the money was paid into the partnership, it became equally owned by the four of us. That’s the way our LLC is set up.”
“You mean you want each of us to have an equal share?” Chastity gasped. Even Isobel’s eyes popped open wide.
“I think we should issue shares at a dollar a share to the LLC,” Henry said. “We’ve got enough product in the pipeline to ramp up sales and marketing and get a couple of full-time developers onboard.”
“Twenty-five million shares owned by the LLC in addition to the ten mil we already have, at a dollar a share is nearly $9,000,000 each!” Isobel said.
“Nine mil in capitalization each,” Luke corrected her. “None of it is money we can touch.” Isobel’s face fell.
“I was thinking about that,” Henry said. “There’s no reason we shouldn’t all benefit individually from this windfall as well as the company. What would you say to each of us withdrawing $1,000,000 to our personal accounts? We’d invest the remaining twenty-one in the company. We have college debt, living expenses, and a general need to stay encouraged. We deserve to see some fruit of our labors and eat of it.”
“Your labors,” Luke reminded him.
“I don’t believe I’m working any harder for the company than everyone else is. I do think Lisa should be given a bonus from the company for the part she played in coordinating the counterattack with the university. Maybe a thousand.”
“I vote yes on all the above,” Isobel said. The dollar signs were practically visible in her eyes.
“Yes,” Chastity squeaked.
“Yes,” Henry said.
“Okay. It’s unanimous,” Luke said. “Details on distribution to be worked out in the office.”
“I’ll leave that to you guys. I have a girlfriend and don’t plan to spend any more time in the office this weekend.”
“I think I can quit,” Chastity said as she and Henry left the club.
“Chas! Really?” he said in shock. “You just get a little money and leave us? I thought you were in it for the long haul!”
Chastity turned to look at him and stood stock still as Henry came to a stop.
“Oh! No,” she said. “Not quit the company! I mean quit escorting! With a million in the bank and a steady income, I don’t think I need to keep falling on my back anymore.”
“Oh, crap! I’m sorry I misunderstood. That’s wonderful news, Chastity. I just… I was afraid that… We need you!” He opened the car door for her to take her home. When they were in and he was driving, she picked up the conversation.
“As much as I need you,” she said. “Henry, I get $500 for a simple screw. We don’t go out. We don’t have dinner. He comes to my apartment, drops his pants and twenty minutes later, tops, he’s come and gone. Do you know how many times I’d have to do that to make a million? Two thousand times! Once a day for five and a half years. Of course, I have clients who want something more. We go out to dinner and dancing or to some affair he needs arm candy for, and then he comes to my apartment, screws me, and leaves. I get $1,500 for that. If a guy wants to hang out with me all day and screw whenever he wants, I get $2,500. Even with all that, I’d still be fucking a stranger fifteen hundred times to make a million. I… I…”
Henry saw tears welling up in her eyes and pulled to the curb so he could hug her. She wept against his shoulder a bit and then looked up at him. She nodded that she was okay and he continued to drive.
“I don’t know if I could have lasted, even until we were all full time in the company. I hate the life! I hate the men. I put on a smile. I listen to their woes and their complaints. I give them reassurances. I let them touch me and suck on my nipples. And then I spread my legs and let them fuck me. They all get just what they want. Everybody gets what he wants from good old Chastity. I hate it.”
“If the million isn’t enough to get you out of the business, I’ll give you more,” Henry said. “Whatever you need. You’ve always kept it to yourself and I didn’t know how much you hated it. And I’ve been a part of it. I’m so sorry, Chas. How can I help you quit it forever?”
“No! You’ve always been my best friend, Henry. Sometimes, my only friend. I will have sex with you anytime you want. I promised that two years ago. I’ll never back out of that. I’ll work hard in the company. I’ll do my job and make sure the office runs smoothly and the employees are taken care of. And anytime you want me, you have me. Anytime, Henry.”
“Chas… I just want to help you. I want to celebrate with you, but…”
“I know. You helped me by giving me this big bonus. Now, you’ve got a new girlfriend and you need to get back to bed. Don’t worry. I won’t interfere with that. Maybe sometime, she’ll invite me along. Later. Not your first weekend together.”
“You knew this was coming all along, didn’t you?”
“Lisa and I have often talked when you aren’t in the office. We might even have kissed once or twice. Maybe. I knew she was interested, almost since before she moved in,” Chastity said, winking at him.
“Clever girl. It takes an idiot like me to not see it, I suppose. Yeah. I kind of left abruptly when Isobel and Luke came crashing into the apartment pounding on my door. I don’t even have socks on. Lisa will be home from class soon,” Henry said.
“You should take her away for the rest of the weekend,” Chastity said. “You know the testing guys will be in tomorrow afternoon, and since Isobel and Luke are here, I’d guess we’ll be working on transferring funds and buying stock. You’d get sucked into one or the other. Just drop me off and then go back to your lover.”
“I wish there was a way to show you how much you mean to me,” he said.
“You do, Henry. You show me every day. Now, go have fun!”
She jumped out of the car at her door, waved, and ran inside. Henry headed to his row house.
Henry booked a room in an historic hotel less than an hour south of the city as soon as Lisa agreed to leave for the weekend. They’d managed to get showered and packed before they left, but saved anything else for when they got to the hotel. That included dinner.
The suite Henry booked was expensive, but he’d just given each of the partners a million-dollar bonus, so he was feeling flush. It included a jacuzzi and a king-size bed. Even though both of them professed it was to be a non-working weekend, they brought their laptops and textbooks so they could study. They knew each other well.
They found a nearby grill to have dinner and then walked back to their suite.
“You certainly chose something luxurious,” Lisa said as she wrapped her arms around Henry to kiss him just inside the door.
“I’m feeling flush. You’re going to get a bonus from the company this week, too, for helping thwart the attack last week. Geez. It’s only been seven days. I can’t believe so much has changed.”
“The company is paying bonuses for the counterattack? That was all your software.”
“And you coordinating things between me and Dr. Hendon. You were our major information conduit. Without it, we wouldn’t have known when to launch the counterattack,” Henry said. “But that’s business stuff. We don’t need to talk about that tonight. I just want to drink you up. You are so beautiful, Lisa.”
“I can’t compete with Chastity when it comes to beauty,” she laughed.
“Please don’t ever feel you need to compare yourself to Chastity. She is different. Her kind of beauty is different. You don’t need to compete.”
“Nor do you, Henry. I’m not dumb. I know that Chastity is not your girlfriend. She spent a good amount of effort convincing me of that. But I also know you have a special kind of relationship with her. When I got home the other night—oh, man, it was only last night—you were lying in her lap on the sofa. You were nuzzling against her bare breast and occasionally taking a suck on her nipple. She summoned me to take her place so she could leave and wished me luck.”
“She was topless?” Henry asked, aghast. He would never have initiated that in the living room. That was a common space in the apartment.
“I don’t think she started that way, but… I admit that when we switched places, I managed to get that nipple in my mouth, too. Piercing and all. Damn, she is sexy!”
“Well, I’m glad you get along with her.”
“I do. And I know she’s got a special role with you that isn’t in her job description for the company. I can see how valuable it is. To you and to her. Don’t change it. Sometimes, maybe we’ll share together, but it’s nice that you got us out of town for this weekend. I do kind of want to soak up the essence of my lover.”
“I… don’t know what to say. Just that the attachment we have is different. When I look at you, I see someone I’d like to have in my life for a long time, in or out of the office.”
“Don’t say anything. Just take me to bed and let’s celebrate another night together.”
With that, they undressed, brushed their teeth, and headed to bed.
“This is a huge bed,” he said.
“We don’t have to use it all,” she laughed. “When it’s time for sleep, I plan to have as much of me on top of you as I can get. Before that, you can get on top of me.”
They didn’t waste any time getting restarted where they left off that morning.
Henry lay with Lisa cradled in his arms, marveling at how natural and right it seemed. He’d had lovers. Certainly, Chastity more often than anyone else. But Chastity wasn’t one to spend a lot of time cuddling after sex. It was good and she was involved and excited by it, but she emphasized repeatedly that she wasn’t his girlfriend.
Henry petted Lisa’s hair and placed a little kiss on her forehead. Oddly, the only other person Henry had sex with who gave him this kind of feeling was Avery. They’d spent time together the summer between high school and college and had sex on their last date. She’d told him then…
“Lisa,” he whispered, “you don’t have a boyfriend back in Louisiana you intend to go back to one day, do you?”
“What a silly thing to ask!” she laughed. “If I had any other boyfriend, you and I wouldn’t be in bed together. I never had a boyfriend in high school or in Louisiana at all. I’m afraid you’re stuck with me.”
“That’s a relief. I’m genuinely… fond of you,” he said, avoiding making too open a declaration of the way he’d begun to feel.
“That’s a good word to use. I’m fond of you, too. Have been for some time. Want to know how fond?” she teased.
“Sure. How fond of me are you?” Henry asked.
“Fond enough that even though my vagina’s a little sore from so much exercise, I still want you in me. So, I guess it will have to be my mouth,” she said, kissing her way down his body.
“You don’t have to do that,” Henry gasped, as she sucked his flaccid cock into her mouth.
“I know. That’s what makes this so great. It just shows my fondness for you,” she giggled as she continued to kiss and suck on him.
Henry was not used to so much sex in such a short period of time either, so he wasn’t sure how successful Lisa would be at playing with his cock. Her enthusiasm soon had him responding.
“Lise, I’m getting close,” he gasped. “Better stop and just let me go.”
“I’m not quitting,” she said. “I figure you can’t have enough left to drown me.”
She continued sucking, caressing his balls with her hand. Henry finally relaxed and it wasn’t long before a few weak spurts hit Lisa’s tongue.
“That wasn’t so bad,” she said. “I don’t know why girls complain about it.”
“What?”
“The girls over at the sorority all talked about how miserable it was to have a boy come in their mouths. I had to try it. It’s not bad.”
Henry pulled Lisa to him and kissed her deeply.
“You’d kiss me when I’ve had your come in my mouth?” she asked, startled.
“Why not? It’s my come. I loved what you did and I want to show you.”
He started to move down, but was halted by her grip on him.
“Not tonight, babe. It really needs to rest so we can resume in the morning. Since you’re okay with it, come and kiss me some more.”
They had no intention of spending the entire weekend in bed. They went out to explore the town of Washington, including walking through the college campus, looking like any other couple of college students.
“When’s your birthday, Lisa?” Henry asked.
“Long time ago.”
“I didn’t mean when were you born,” he laughed. “I just want to know when to plan a celebration.”
“I know. But you already celebrated my birthday with me.”
“I did?”
“Yeah. It was our first date, last September.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I intended to, but things kind of went screwy.”
That night, a football linebacker had assaulted them, attempting to take Lisa by force. Henry had responded by punching him in the throat and taking Lisa away from the scene quickly.
“You know what impressed me most about that night?” he asked.
“It couldn’t have been the sorority,” she snorted.
“No. It was when that crude guy tried to take you with him, I saw you remove your shoes. I wasn’t sure if you intended to run or throw them at him, but it was the right thing to do. I thought, ‘She can take care of herself.’”
“But you took care of me,” she said.
“I didn’t want to see you break a nail,” Henry laughed.
As they walked through the town, looking at historic buildings and finding interesting places to eat, Henry became quiet and seemed to have a lot on his mind. Lisa tugged at him.
“Do you need to check in at the office?” she asked.
“Hmm? No. Sorry. I got distracted in my head a little.”
“Tell me. Okay?”
“Yeah. Sure. Um… I was just realizing that I might not be able to continue in school next fall.”
“Why? You’ve got grants and scholarships, don’t you? And a job that pays. Why wouldn’t you continue in school?”
Henry sighed and led Lisa to a park bench where they sat, turned toward each other.
“It’s the job,” he said. “I might not be able to handle working full time and going to school full time.”
“Full time? At work?”
“Yeah. I just realized I’m going to have to start full time this summer,” he said.
“Why?”
“I haven’t mentioned it, but we landed a substantial investment in Open Cloak. With the kind of money we’re talking about, we won’t be able to handle it as a part time business. I’ll need to hire a couple of full-time developers, probably a marketing person, and maybe a bookkeeper. Isobel does a good job of managing our money, but she’s got two years of school left and might not be able to handle the amount of work we’re going to have.”
“That’s wonderful! I mean, not that you think you’ll quit school, but that you got a big investment in the company!”
“The thing is, I took the investment without considering how it might affect life. Not only mine, but my partners’ lives. Luke is on a combined BA/MBA program and can’t finish before two more years full time. Isobel has two more years. I might need Chastity full time just to manage the office and employees. Office! We won’t be able to continue in the attic. We’ll have to have a place where people come to work. There’s so much to think of!”
“Henry, I know it’s huge. Nobody at our age starts a big business. We’ve got the search engine in testing. We’ve got Pythia Speaks in testing. The Ask Dad app is going to progress, and I know you’ve got plans to improve AI power consumption. We’ll get through it. We’ll be successful.”
“You say ‘we’ a lot,” he laughed.
“Oh. It’s not like I’m projecting our relationship far into the future. Exactly. But as long as I’m part of your life or part of Open Cloak, it will be we.”
Please feel free to send comments to the author at devon@devonlayne.com.
