Roswell Fanatics

begonia9508

keepsmiling7

mary mary

Author's note: In business, in law and maybe in all life, true friendships are rare. I remember a story about a little bird, ... but that is for another time and place. It is difficult to trust those who appear to help you and it is not good to keep grudges against those who appear to do you harm. With Max all he has is to trust Tess and if she fails him then he can decide to fire her. He has already gone through that. Getting Married for Max will be a different experience. Liz is / is not a project. Marriage is so much more than just a business merger. Max has been considering this for some time, much like Michael. Max chooses to not place his project in the sock drawer. With the new revelations I am sure he is getting about who and what Liz actually is, he must give her the same privilege to consider things. Tess's teasing is more of a warning, instinctively given from one woman in defense of another.

Chapter 21

Max didn’t wake up until late that Saturday morning. The way he saw it was that proposing to Liz was a project. The first project he had ever tried on his own. If he had had Tess’s guidance, would his adventure toward matrimony have been better received? Tess always knew those secret things when Max approached a project. It was instinctive with her. Like she told Max where to take Liz on his dates and she picked out his clothes. Then, she made Max promise never to tell Liz or any other woman about her help. Max accepted what she said, because she was Tess and that is what Max did. He trusted her instincts.

All the time Max had been going with Liz, all the times he had spent in her bed, there had never been any sense of rejection. That Liz might have been using Max for her own selfish reasons, hadn’t occurred to him until she didn’t want to take that next step. Max was sure that if he talked to Tess, she would have given him a perfectly logical reason. Max had a date tonight and unless he wanted to cancel it, he might as well get up and get busy on his Saturday chores.

Since he had spent last night with Miss Parker, Max hadn’t yet done his weekly laundry. Many times, Tess took their suits and business clothes to the little laundry near their office. There were washcloths, towels and polo shirts that he wore at home, not to mention sheets and other things that were part of his apartment.

Since the little apartment didn’t need a cleaning service, Max had to run the vacuum and mop the tile floors. Since he had been having a guest on a regular basis, Max cleaned the bathroom regularly every day. Hell, when living alone, Max only cleaned the toilet when it looked gross to him. Having a woman drop in at random intervals, caused Max to mop, scrub and keep replacing that little deodorant thingy. Since he didn’t know when Liz might want to spend the entire night and use his shower, likewise, he scrubbed the scum out of the tub.

Laundry wasn’t stacked on the floor any longer. It had to be put up when he brought it up from the basement. Towels, had to be kept folded and fresh in the bathroom. There was a lot more work when he had a regular woman, coming by. Now, Max had to ask, would Liz still want to be his girl? Would they be sleeping together just for sex or since he had broached the subject of marriage, would Liz want to move on; maybe, find a guy with whom she could again have an arrangement with no strings?

If Michael had dropped by, he probably would have mixed Max a special drink and caused even more trouble. Max was doing just what Michael warned about. He was thinking too much and the speed of his thoughts was accelerating.

It was halfway through the afternoon when Max received a phone call. “Max, Liz here, are we still on for tonight?” she asked.

“Yes, if that is still what you want,” Max said with considerably less enthusiasm than normal.

“Max, would you come by early? And Max, would you mind bringing the ring back with you?” Liz asked again.

Damn it, Michael knew he should have spiked Max’s drink, last time. Marriage proposals were like “Swine Flu” and “Bird Flu,” combined. The black plague, of the middle-ages, was preferred to marriage proposals running loose in a bachelor community. It all started with that secretary who Max hadn’t bedded, yet. Now that was a mistake! Women like that and Max didn’t have the sense to take advantage of them. That Ms. Harding was reputed to be trying to get that crip Valenti off his ass and marry her. If Max wasn’t going to bang his secretary, then that Valenti guy ought to build a better firewall about her that would hold other executives back.

After the event started from Liz’s phone call last night, Maria had kept a panting, exhausted, Michael awake talking about marriage. Now, Michael had this double date to worry about. Usually, when Maria had been playing matchmaker between Liz and Max, she returned to their bedroom hotter than ever. Now, Michael was sure that the entire conversation tonight would be about marriage. It wasn’t that Michael never intended to marry Maria someday, he even had a ring stashed away in his sock drawer somewhere. It was just that Michael had a sure thing and he was reluctant to rock the boat. Michael had no idea of looking somewhere for someone better than Maria. She was receptive to almost anything he could suggest. Quarreling with Maria was the best fun Michael had. Michael always feared that marriage would dull that sharp edge he and Maria had, trying to please each other. Would marriage allow Maria’s body to grow soft? Would their exciting fantasy episodes erode to just the missionary position on Friday nights? Michael liked what he had and now, it looked as if Max was scuttling the boat of romance Michael felt he had with Maria.

The phone rang. “Hey, Maria, I invited Max to come over early so we could talk. Could you and Michael phone me before you come over tonight? I think we can be ready, but if our discussion gets heated, I want to get everything talked out,” with that, Liz hung up her phone.

“Hey, if she turns him down, Max isn’t going to be up for shit!” Michael exclaimed.

“Well if you hadn’t doped him up when he was with Courtney, then this wouldn’t be happening anyway!” Maria almost screamed back at him.

“You were the one angry about Courtney giving me the eye. I just distracted her to someone else and I gave Max a little bit of a reputation,” Michael retorted.

“Yeah, if you count points tallied up on the skank board of studs,” Maria came back.

Michael had it all worked down to a science. He could stir Maria up all he wanted in the afternoon, but toward evening, he had to pacify her even if it meant he had to admit that he had been wrong all along. Michael had learned that no matter what the subject was, there was nothing better than a nightly kiss, just before he ripped her clothes off and started wild uninhibited sex. To gain that kiss of permission, Michael was willing to say and do almost anything. The kiss of permission, that was Michael’s secret to a long relationship. Hell, if this matrimony thing got out of hand, Michael could dig the ring out of the sock drawer. He intended to marry her, anyhow. Michael was just waiting for the best time to do it.

Monday morning and the trip up the elevator was like a nightmare being over. “Good morning, Mr. Evans,” was heard.

“Good, morning, Ms. Harding,” was answered.

Max and Tess entered the box, both with a smile. They both were jostled by the several secretaries and others all entering the car to be at their jobs on time. Once again, Max found that Ms. Harding seemed always between him and the rest of the crowd. Max did see Helen to one side of the crowd. “Good morning, Ms Andrews,” he said.

“She mumbled something; Max couldn’t quite make it out.

When they left elevator on the tenth floor, Max saw that there were only two others remaining, both were secretaries who worked on the twelfth floor with Johnson. Max nodded to them and for once they both gave him a smile. Max, paternally held the elevator door for both Helen and Tess as they all three exited the car. Once out of the elevator, Tess was once again the queen of the office. “Helen, please pick up the mail,” Tess ordered. Once inside the office, Tess immediately opened her door and the one between her office and Max’s. As Max took the journal she brought for him every morning, he heard her call out. “Ms. Sanchez, please pick up two coffees, one black for Mr. Evans, one two sugars and one cream for me. Remember your tea and ask Ms. Andrews what she takes in the morning. Ms. Andrews, give Olivia your order for coffee and please run down to the lunchroom on the ground floor. They are supposed to have a half dozen box of Danish roles for this office. If they don’t, tell them the wrath of Harding will rain down upon them,” Tess was barking out orders like a drill seargeant. Both Helen and Olivia laughed at the thought of the wrath of Harding. They knew that Tess was barely five foot two, but she could wreck hell on those who didn’t do what they were supposed to.

Max was in his office and he could hear Tess, next door, working at her desk. This seemed as good a time as any to make his announcment. “Hey, Tess, guess what! I got engaged this weekend,” Max stated.

There was very little that could have disrupted the office more. All the keyboards became instantly silent. Max guessed that he could have whispered this information to Tess and the results would have still been the same. The words, marriage, engagements and rings, all catch a woman’s attention, even if they are only thought strongly. Three heads instantly were crowded in the doorway. “When did this happen, Max? Tess asked.

“I asked her Friday night. I thought she turned me down. She called back Saturday afternoon and we talked about it for a couple hours,” Max said.

“Damn it, Max. Don’t you know that a girl has to assess her options? Is your proposal the best she has heard lately? Are there any likely counter offers just sitting in the wind? Can she hold out for a better proposal if she lets yours be known to the world out there?” Max was sure that Tess was teasing him. The others were taken back, but the Harding-Evans relationship was strong enough for some gentle hazing.

Max had to smile. The dream team was working better than it had since they expanded the office. He noticed that Helen didn’t give any backtalk when Tess gave her orders. That was good. Max had said that she was Tess’s employee and if she got fired it would be Tess who did it.

Tess had brought Max some new files. He was looking to see if there might be a problem. They both were gun shy after the rock star project. There was a Danish on his desk and his coffee on the side. Max heard Tess call out, “Hey, Helen, do you want to take a trip over to the civic center? Alex Romero said he scheduled a press conference for that Stratus kid. Don’t take any lip off those guys Alex has guarding the kid. If they give you too much trouble, call me. I think I know just enough Spanish to curl their ears back. Let me know what you think of the presentation. Give me your true opinion. That is what I will base my report to Johnson on,” Tess instructed. Max noticed that in minutes, Helen had picked up some petty cash for taxi and he heard the door close behind her.

Tess stuck her head into Max’s office. “Look, Max, I know I sort of let things down after we moved. Some of Helen’s problem is that we don’t give her enough responsibility and the authority to carry it out,” Tess explained.

Max nodded. He was a bit troubled because Detective Padilla had told Max some disturbing things about Helen. Padilla didn’t have enough proof to do anything yet, but he told Max to keep his eyes opened. Maybe, as usual, Max should just trust Tess’s instincts. Run the legs off the little bitch and see if she could keep up. Helen said she wanted to be a administrative assistant. Well, trust Tess to start some hard lessons right now.

It was just before lunch time when Helen returned. She was panting, so hard Max thought she must have been running at least part of the way. “Ms. Harding, I wanted to get this back to you before you left for lunch. Here are my notes and here is a recording that I made if you want to check what I wrote for yourself,” Helen said between breaths.

Tess took the notes, but she returned the recording. The recording is a good idea, but keep it for your own files. I will take what you wrote for the report,” Tess told Helen.

Helen seemed surprised, “Do you trust me, Ms Harding? I would have thought you would want to check up on me your self?”

“Look, Ms. Andrews. I will trust your instincts. If you fail me, I will fire you. Take a half hour extra for lunch to catch your breath. Don’t be later than that. I may have you write up the report your self. That will be a good way to get your name before Mr. Johnson. How did you get along with the body guards?” Tess asked.

“Oh, I never told you, Ms. Harding. I speak some Spanish. I told them that if they didn’t want the terror of the Evans’ office to come down upon them, to keep out of my way. It isn’t what you say, it is the way you say it, that counts. They quickly got out of my way. Mr. Romero was laughing when I finally found him. He said I put on quite a show,” Helen stated.

Helen was off to lunch with her friends. Before Tess left for lunch, she stuck her head into Max’s office. “Hey, Max, did you hear that? Helen speaks Spanish. That means we have both Olivia and Helen to use if we have to make any presentations in Spanish. We ought to think how we can use both women in the future.”

Max nodded. He appreciated what Tess had learned. What Detective Padilla had told him still bothered Max. Max wasn’t going to say anything, at least not yet.
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Stories by Ken

begonia9508: For Helen to be prosecuted would be justice. one only has to look at out congress to see that justice is often not possible.

mary mary

keepsmiling7: Max had to realize that he had been planning on this engagement for a long time. To Liz it was a surprise. Max had to allow her time to think.


Chapter 22

The dream team was at peak performance. There was talk that Max would be on the twelfth floor by the end of next year or if not, at least on the eleventh one. Right now, Max had all he could do to keep his present team running smoothly. Christmas Party time was upon them. Parties are supposed to be fun, but the traditional office party was like playing with matches in a powder magazine. For one night, only first names would be used. There was some design of total equality. The reality was that several of the secretaries would get screwed and most of them wanted it. Screwing an executive was a sure way to climb to higher floors. For the few times Max had been with the company as anything above just the fifth floors grubbies, he and Tess had gone together and protected each other. This time, Max wanted (and Tess encouraged him,) to take his fiancée, Liz. As long as Max had nothing to hide, letting Liz get used to the people of the office was a good idea. Max and Liz would be married sometime this spring.

When Max had been on the fifth floor and below, he had always heard that the secretaries would go down on any invitation. At the time, Max having no overt promise, he hadn’t seen any available women and certainly there were none clamoring for his attention. Max stood around with several of the other males making crude jokes at the show higher up the food chain. They drank free beer and Max would go home alone to nurse a hangover.

Olivia would appear with her husband. He was a fierce Pancho Villa look alike. That left Tess and Helen. Tess called Helen into her office. Tess purposely closed the door between her office and that of Max. She had already asked Helen to close the door into the outer office. To say that Helen was frightened was the least of her emotions. She had all sorts of fears that someway, Ms. Harding had discovered her duplicity in starting those rumors. Helen could kick herself. When she did that, she had been so immature. At that time, Helen could only think that if you could screw the boss, you had it made. She couldn’t see any difference between herself and Tess other than the fact that Helen thought she could probably screw better. Her active life in high school had assured her that her ability in sex took second to none.

“Helen,” Tess started off. She was using her first name, because she wanted to give some friendly advice, but she didn’t want to come off demanding or meddling. “The Christmas party is coming up. Now, how you conduct your self is your business. You will be subjected to many promises, but remember that as soon as the beer clears the mind, the promises will be forgotten. The junior executives don’t have the power to keep any of their promises and the senior executives can’t offer you much better than you have now with us. If you have a friend, boyfriend or just a buddy, you can bring them as an escort. If you want, you are free to navigate the swamp alone. Just remember the alligators all bite.”

Helen looked at Tess. “What about you? How do you handle yourself at these functions?” she asked.

Tess grimaced. “This year is going to be difficult. Normally I would go with Mr. Evans. We sort of watch each other’s backs. He and I both agree that this year, he needs to bring his fiancée. She needs to get used to the corporation. That will be the greatest competition she has for Max’s affection and time.”

Helen stood. “Thank you, Ms. Harding, I will think about what I will do. I think I am a big girl and can take care of myself, but I appreciate you giving me fair warning,” Helen said a bit coldly.

Tess shrugged, “That is good, Ms. Andrews. I just want you to be safe and have a good time.” With those warnings Tess dismissed Helen.

Tess was in a meeting with the other executive assistants. They were all planning the Christmas party. Max stepped up to Olivia’s desk. “Ms. Sanchez, please cover Ms. Harding’s desk. You and Ms. Andrews can finish up here in the office. By the time Max was on the first floor, his taxi was waiting. The Max who summoned the taxi now was so different from the man who had to call a taxi because he had fallen asleep and the security had thrown him out of the building so long ago.

Max got out at an apartment complex. Tess would be working, but Max needed to talk to Kyle. He and Kyle had parted with an understanding, but they were not yet friends. Max knocked on the door. Kyle answered. He wasn’t belligerent, but Max’s reception was far from friendly.

“Mr. Valenti, normally, I would take Tess to the office Christmas party. When she was in the office pool, I understand she had a hard time fending off the young studs. The years we have worked together, we would go to parties and watch each other’s backs. I didn’t need the unwanted attention of the starlets who wanted to climb on my reputation any more than Tess needed the attention of the young studs who tried to make promises, but only wanted to get in someone’s pants. This year is different. Tess is important enough to be a target for some of the young executives, but I have become engaged. I believe you know Miss Elizabeth Parker. Your girl in her wisdom, which I have learned to trust, encourages me to introduce Liz to the corporation as soon as possible. That leaves Tess without an escort. Tess’s position is such that she can command a company car and chauffeur. It would be good for her if you could make yourself escort her and fend off the vultures. It would be right and proper if you and Tess could be our guests at our table.” Max did not want to anger Kyle, nor did he want to make Kyle fall into some kind of self-pitying funk.

Kyle leaned back, “Evans, what do you see when you look at me?” he asked.

“I see my secretary’s boyfriend,” Max replied.

“Do you see a whole man who can protect what is his?” Kyle asked.

Max shrugged, “I see a man who has stared the devil in the face and lived to talk about it,” Max stated. “Look Kyle, I don’t pretend to understand what you went through. I do know how much Tess cares for you. She needs someone who can run off the devils in the corporation. I don’t think you will find any of them worse than what you have faced before. Look, Kyle as long as Tess is with me, she is relatively safe. In a weak moment, someone else might try to take advantage of her,” Max finished.

Wow, did any of his insecurity bleed through? Take advantage of Tess in a weak moment, wasn’t that what he almost did to Tess. Well, at least he knew it was wrong. Max started again. “This time, I can’t be with her. She needs a escort who can keep the wolves away.” Max could only hope that Kyle would understand that this was a time when Tess needed him.

When Tess got back to the office, she found that Max had left for the day. This wasn’t normal, but things were quiet for the time and maybe, he needed time with his fiancée. “Let’s finish up and call it a day. I will hang around to answer the phone, so the rest of you can leave when you are caught up,” Tess answered.

It was quiet when the other two women had finally gone. Now, Tess was alone with her own thoughts. When she had been with the typing pool, a lot of guys had hit on her. Tess remembered the many promises they had made. Dating a couple of them, Tess had thought she had been back in high school as a cheerleader fucking the football team. Tess soon tried to avoid those guys and their score cards. She didn’t like the way they made her feel, sort of cheap. The young executives were the same way. Tess had always gone back to Kyle and when he had gone to war, she avoided the executives all together. Janice had advanced her to a position where the boss was already taken care of by Janice herself. Janice wanted her in that position, first, because Tess was a reliable worker and second, Tess had a boyfriend she didn’t want to cheat on. Tess was never a threat to Janice’s relationship with her boss. At these times, Tess had always found a friend to accompany her to things she couldn’t avoid.

How was she going to face being at the party as a high profile person and avoid confrontations? As the executive assistant to Max, she couldn’t easily avoid this event.

This brought Tess back to thinking about Helen. Since Tess’s return, Helen had been a much better worker. Tess had given her more assignments and Helen had performed well. If Helen wasn’t careful, she could get herself ‘gang banged’ at the party coming up. Gaining the reputation of being too loose, might hurt Helen’s reputation as a conscientious worker. Tess had given her fair warning, the girl had to grow up someday.

Tess returned to her own problems. Max had always treated her fairly. She was his partner in office things. Working together too closely had almost cost them their mutual respect for each other. Tess knew that the other executives always thought that she and Max were carrying on something fierce. A few beers and seeing Max with his fiancée might encourage some of the upcoming studs to think that Tess would be ripe for the pickings. Tess was aware that some of the guys at the office just wanted to screw her. Even a quickie in the supply room would give them points in their world. Some of the young studs had the conceit that they would be so great in screwing Tess, she would want them back badly enough that she would offer office favors. Then they would use her to climb the ladder of success, just like some of the secretaries did with other executives. There would be a few who thought that they might win her away from the Evans’ team, like she was some good luck charm. Maybe, if Tess was on their team, they could benefit from the same luck as did Evans.

In high school, Tess had developed a good right handed slap across the face. That might work some places, but slapping the wrong executive might kill her career with the company. Executives had long memories and it was difficult to predict which ones would rise to important stations. Tess closed the office and hurried back to Kyle.

Tess had let her staff go home early. She was in the elevator with the afternoon rush crowd. Tess wasn’t indulging in fantasies like her boss, but she did make use of her observational skills. She saw women rubbing up against young executives trying to bring attention to them selves. She saw more than one hand sneak out of the crowd to grab a butt, sometime with obvious intent and other times, with sophomoric anonymity. From the times of Kyle’s absence during the war, Tess could understand that even the anomyous sexual touch was needed to feel alive. Tess had migrated to the edge of the elevator car to place herself separate from the herd. That is what she would have to attempt at the Christmas party.

“Hey, babe, your boss dropped by to see me today,” Kyle called out.

Tess had just entered the door to their apartment. She frowned, to her knowledge, Max had never interfered in her personal life before. Kyle had never mentioned the conversation he had had with Max while he was back in rehab. “What did he want, hun?” Tess inquired cautiously.

“He thinks I ought to accompany you to the Christmas party,” Kyle informed her.

“Why did he think that?” Tess tentatively asked. This was a subject that had precipitated several serious arguments with Kyle years before.

“I am not sure. He mentioned his own engagement, so it might be some over romantical notion, that is, I am a couple, thus everyone should be a couple, or something like that. He was polite and everything. He did mention that you two had always watched each other’s back and this time, he felt he couldn’t do that for you, so he asked if I could escort you at the party,” Kyle explained.

Tess noticed that Kyle used the words at the party and not to the party. It was true that she needed an escort during the affair if she was to fend off the wolves. “Kyle, you never wanted to attend things like this. Will it upset you being with that many people?” Tess asked.

“Tess, I never asked about things which went on at work. I was always afraid that stories about office romances were too real for me to take. That Evans fellow seems to be straight up. He denies any affair ever between you two. He says the easiest way to not have affairs at office parties is to not be available,” Kyle declared. Kyle knew that wasn’t exactly what Max had said, but if Max hadn’t been worried about Tess’s wellbeing and safety, what the hell had he meant coming by to talk to Kyle? They weren’t drinking buddies or anything.
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Little Napoleon, part one Bodies are piling up for Liz and her squad. Liz is learning that her squad has special powers. She will have to learn best how to use these powers.

keepsmiling7: I always found all office parties disasters waiting to happen. The assumed equality is not real and most times causes problems for the rest of the year.

Natalie36

begonia9508: the liquor, the mixing and the perceived freedom cause trouble. Like studs at their high school prom, the excitement is hoped to make good sense evaporate. the seniors at the prom will go out into the world, the workforce at the party, must return in a few days to what they were before. There they are faced with what they did at the party.

Chapter 23

Michael was right. There ought to be a vaccination, for women, against marriage talk. Maria had spent the morning at Liz Paarker’s apartment indulging in this vice. Maria had returned with copies of “Today’s Bride,” “Modern Marriages,” and an advertisement from the jewelry store that all women counted as excellence, “Jared’s Bridal Guide.” Frankly, Michael thought all those publications should be restricted. “Michael, you should just see her ring,” Maria sighed.

“Maria, I saw it the weekend he gave it to her, remember? We went out together. Frankly, I think he is jumping the gun. They haven’t even tried living together. Old Max is just too anxious to get hitched. It ain’t natural for a man to act like that,” Michael drawled.

Maria, in the mood she was in, just ignored Michael and continued her rant. “Michael, you should see how happy, Liz is. She and Max are already making plans for her to go back to school and where they are going to buy their first house,” Maria gushed.

Michael knew that Maria’s sickness was getting serious. He had to defuse it someway. Michael reached for her hand and led her into the bedroom. “Maria, babe, I need help. I have too many socks that need sorting. I think some of the unpaired ones should have mates back at my place. Maybe, you can help me decide which socks to leave here and which I should take back to my place.” Michael stated totally indifferent to Maria’s rant at least in her opinion.

“That is just dandy! My best friend is planning her wedding and I am here helping my boyfriend sort his socks,” Maria said with some rancor.

Maria pulled the drawer completely out of the chest it had been built into. She dumped its contents onto their bed. Michael was sure that the light blue box had the same effect, on women, that ground effect radar would have positioned over a golden sarcophagus. He could have buried it under three weeks laundry and maybe, under dirty laundry also. The small box fell out of the drawer and was being covered by the multitude of paired socks. Maria’s hand darted into the pile to come up with the item. “And, what does this mean?” she asked Michael.

“I was just waiting for the proper time,” Michael stated.

Like a lineman tackling the fullback while he carried the ball, except in this case it was Maria who held the trophy, she launched her self against Michael knocking him backwards across the bed. Maria was laying on top of Michael, as she spread her legs to balance herself. Michael thought that if they both had shed their clothes before Maria jumped on top of him, it could have been a lot more erotic. As it was, Maria propped her self up, planting her elbows on Michael’s chest as she opened the box to admire the ring. “Babe, if you get off of me, maybe we can talk about this,” Michael grunted through his pain.

Maria sat up on the edge of the bed and Michael did like wise, still rubbing his chest where her sharp elbows had poked him. Maria had a death grip on the box. Her off hand was reaching to pluck the ring from where it was held. Michael’s hand darted in front of her intentions, grabbing the ring. “We have to do this right. You can’t have it yet,” he stated.

“Michael, no middle initial, Guerin, what do you mean that I can’t have the ring now? Don’t you dare tell me you are holding it for one of those low life friends you have.” Michael would swear that fire was darting out of Maria’s eyes.

“No Maria, it is not like that,” Michael said as he knelt on the floor. Michael pulled her knees apart, both because he wanted the erotic feeling of being between them and also to keep from getting kicked if Maria didn’t take this next part right. This time, with his elbows on either side of her bare thighs, pulling them tight against his still throbbing chest, Michael gazed up at his love. “Maria, will you consent to be my wife, both in the eyes of your God and in the eyes of all men and women, so help you?” Michael wasn’t sure why he put that last phrase in his request, but he was asking her to swear an oath. Somehow it fit.

When excited, Maria was given to all sorts of physical explosions. Placing the ring on her finger was guaranteed to cause an explosion. That was another reason to be between her knees instead of in front of them. This time, Maria leaned forward and pulled Michael’s face closed to hers. As she kissed him on his lips, he heard, “Forever, Michael.” Then she pushed him away and said, “And, don’t you think you can change your mind either, buddy! I have too much invested in living with you not to bring devastation upon you if you try to wiggle out.”

With that, Maria was bounding into the other room and Michael could hear her on the phone. Michael was left to lean back on the bed and think, were there any incriminations in his mind? No, the time was right. Max and Liz had just hurried things along a bit, but Michael was ready to settle down to living with Maria legally and everything else.

Liz and Maria, once again, faced the bad French of the sales girl. Maria was much more willing to place major purchases on Liz’s credit card than was Liz alone. “Mademoiselle has made a final choice,” The girl stated as she rang Liz’s new dress up on her card. At this rate, the money Liz had allotted for her sabbatical year from school would be spent even before her marriage.

Liz had picked a white dress with puffed sleeves. It was knee length and it had little sparkly things sewed into the dress proper. Liz was wearing a fur trimmed wrap, which Tess had assured Max, that it would be proper for him to buy at this time in their relationship. Tess also had some advice for Max. “Max, you are going to have to start asking Liz for advice in your choices of clothes. Women like to see their men decorated in their own style. I will always have your back at the office, but other places, start asking for Liz’s advice,” Tess had said.

This territory protection was something new for Max to consider. Every since he had met Tess, she had guided him in many of the things he should do. He was comfortable with her advice. Now, she was telling him to go to Liz for advice that did not concern the office. Max would never understand women. His friend Michael would say, “Why bother? As long as you end up in bed with them, just take them as they are!”

Just as Tess ran the office, as soon as she arrived, pushing the wheelchair with Kyle, she took over the table. She busied herself, making, Olivia and her husband, Carlos, feel comfortable, along with introducing Liz as Max’s fiancée. Helen appeared without escort. Tess guessed that Helen was confident to feel that she could navigate by herself. Then, Tess also thought, maybe, Helen didn’t have someone who would be willing to escort her. Tess made sure that Helen felt that there was a place at their table for her and whoever she ended up with.

As groups wandered by, Tess always made the introductions, starting with Kyle, her boyfriend and ending with Max, her boss, his fiancée. Max was thinking, Tess was the perfect office wife. They both had to work hard to keep their private and personal lives out of the office.

Tess observed that Helen was quickly melding with the meandering groups. This was probably good, as Helen needed to learn the pitfalls in the office politics. Once when the live music had taken a few minutes off for a break, Helen stopped by their table in the company of Charles Stevens. Tess recognized Stevens as a minor executive from the seventh floor. Tess made all the introductions. She didn’t miss the frown, Max made. Max recognized Stevens as a ‘suckup’ who spent most of his noon times bragging how many secretaries he banged in a weekend. Tess had told Max that Helen was a grown woman and she was free to make her own conquests and failures. As long as they had nothing to do with the Evans-Harding dream tea, Tess said, “It is none of our business.”

Kyle was watching his girl. He knew she was efficient, but seeing her in the office setting, Kyle could see that she was a person of great importance. Several times, when introducing him to executives, Tess mentioned his service in the east. He noticed that she also introduced the executives as a veterans of the “Gulf War,” “Vietnam War,” and several other police actions. Several of these men would later pull up a chair and sit talking to Kyle, not telling war stories, rather talking about conditions in the military or other military problems. Kyle thought, these men are genuine because they also have ghosts that they do not want to resurrect from battles best forgotten.

Carlos Sanchez was pretty entertaining. He was teasing, Tess about them hiring that no good cousin of Olivia’s. “What are you going to do if you get raided by emigration?” he asked.

“Mr. Sanchez, I am going to point them to the twelfth floor. I am just a humble administrative assistant. What do I know about legal or illegal migrant workers anyway?” Tess declared.

That got quite a laugh. It was clear that Max might be the executive, but it was Tess who ran the office. This just added to Kyle’s admiration for his girl.

Helen again sat at their table, this time without Charles Stevens. Max was sure that he had seen her duck into one of the janitor’s closets with Stevens for a time. Max did see that she emerged from the lady’s room before she returned to their table. She had repaired her make up and adjusted her dress. Max could only grimace since he did not consider sex among the mops and brooms as particularly romantic. Tess smiled and nodded as Helen returned.

Kyle leaned over and whispered to Max. “Max, she deserves to be shown off a little. Would you take my girl around the floor a couple times?”

Max looked at Liz and she nodded and smiled. It was showing a lot of trust for Kyle to make that request. Tess smiled demurely as she took Max’s hand. Tess missed dancing. When she and Max had come to previous office parties, they had danced together. They both thought that was a safe way to interact. Now, she was in front of her lover and he had offered her to her boss. Tess knew that the only reason Kyle did that, was that he wanted to do something nice for her. Kyle, was trusting her, to Max. “I must complement you as host of our table, tonight,” Max said.

“Thank you, Max, I think Olivia and Carlos are having a good time. He can be a lot of fun joking about his heritage. I think that Kyle has had fun, also. Just being out away from home is good for him. What do you think about Helen with Charles Stevens?” Tess asked.

“You said it. She has to grow up someday. He is about as worthless a prick as we have here tonight. She won’t find anything in him to hitch on to if she wants to climb higher,” Max answered.

They swirled among the other dancers. There were many comments, “Hey, looking good Evans, you too, Ms. Harding.” “Hey Evans, don’t get too far from that fiancée of yours. She might get scooped up by someone on the twelfth floor if you are not careful.”

It was all good natured banter from a group, who for one night, pretended that they were all equal.

They returned to their table to see that Carlos and Liz were absent. “Mr. Evans, you want to be careful of that Carlos of mine. He might flee back to Guadalajara with your intended and you would never see her again,” Olivia joked.

Max laughed, “I might have to hire that cousin of yours to go find her then. By the way, where is Alex tonight?” Max asked.

Olivia took a deep breath, “He and his men are sitting up with that Status niño tonight. He tried to make a break and buy more dope,” Olivie informed them.

Max noted that she used the word niño. That was usually used for a very young child or a baby. Well, that is what those celebrities usually were, just big babies.

Max guessed that there had to be at least one thing to mar the evening. Carlos had returned with Liz. He seated her beside Max and returned to his wife. Max noticed that before sitting down, Carlos leaned over to Kiss Olivia. No matter if he was dancing with the boss’s girl, Carlos would always return to his long time love. Tess and Kyle were holding hands as they watched the crowd. Liz had snuggled close to Max, not from the cold, rather as seeking shelter from the social swirl she didn’t completely understand.

Everyone knew that Jerry Brach drank too much. Jerry knew it most of all. He had spent most of his college chugging beer at the frat house. When sober, he was fairly good at managing projects. Max had always avoided him because Max considered him unstable. Jerry approached their table accompanied by the many young bucks, who thought Jerry funny and daring. Jerry made his address to Tess, “Hey, beautiful, your boss has someone else to screw tonight, why don’t you and me ditch the wheelchair man and I will show you about town.”

There were snickers from his following, showing they were quite drunk, also. Max started to stand, Liz put her hand on his to slow him down. Max saw that Carlos had interchanged his seat with Olivia so that he was closest to the drunks. Kyle looked at the drunk Jerry and moved his wheelchair. Tess put her hand on the chair, but Kyle slapped it away. He wheeled up to Jerry and said; “You know a friend reminded me that while shits like you were just tossing beers in fraternity parties, I was in a very dark place slitting the throats of insurgents. Every man I killed was a fighting man. I am sure that my woman could find someone better than me, but it would never be some pissant like you. I have you at the greatest disadvantage possible. If by chance you could deck me, you would always wear the banner of beating up a cripple. With what I know, I am sure that you and several of your friends are heading for the hospital tonight unless you back off. You will always know that a man in a wheelchair bested you without raising a sweat.”

It was deathly quiet. Finally, Jerry mumbled, “I guess I made a mistake.” He and his friends wondered off. There was danger here, no fun.

It was Carlos who broke the silence. “Hey man, you showed real cajones there. That little pendejo will have to hide from everybody from now on,” he said as he clapped Kyle on the back.

Tess took Kyle’s face in her hands and kissed him. She had been so scared. Not only did Kyle handle himself proud, but her friends and co-workers all came to her aid. She had no doubt that both Max and Carlos would have jumped in, if the men hadn’t backed down.

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Silver handprints are cropping up like weeds. Bodies are cluttering the morgues. What are the two girls to do. Little Napoleon, part one

begonia9508
keepsmiling7
Natalie36


There is no justice within the company. All decisions are for what is best for the company


Chapter 24

The holiday season was long gone. Tess declared that being at the holiday party had greatly improved Kyle’s depression. He was starting to work with the Veterans Administration instead of continually fighting them. It was a poorly disguised secret that Max would be destined for the twelfth floor soon. Privately, Max had talked with Tess. Did she still want to follow him? Tess had attached her star to Max and he had taken her with him everywhere he went. Now, the only thing that might concern her was the close encounter than had had some time ago. Only by not working with each other, could they guarantee that this would never happen again. Working together, they knew their weaknesses and they could try to control their passions. If they split up, would they be able to form as convenient an alliance with new partners, probably not?

Max was married and Tess and Kyle had bought their new house. They were not people who Tess knew, but Michael and Maria were married also. Under the still disguised secret, Max had been told to find his replacement. He and Tess had discussed this for a long time. As usual Tess made lists of men who had worked well on Max’s projects. They had slowly added up their plusses and minuses. Tess had approached Olivia quietly. If she followed Max, Tess wanted Olivia to follow her. So far no one had said anything to Helen. Helen knew that there were changes in the wind, maybe, they were getting even with her for her behavior when she had first been hired. Helen had no fantasies of displacing Ms. Harding anymore. She still wasn’t sure what their relationship was, but Evans and Harding had a tight bond. The secret day that everyone already knew was approaching. Still, no one had talked to Helen. Toward quitting time, Helen was called into Ms. Harding’s office. She had no warning, just the intercom, “Ms. Andrews please report to my office.” Max had gone, so Helen knew that it must be Ms. Harding who summoned her.

“Ms. Andrews,” Tess started. To Helen that sounded so formal that she was sure something bad was about to happen. Tess started again. “Mr. Evans and I are going to be advanced to the twelfth floor. I am taking Ms. Sanchez as my assistant. The work we will be doing will be considerably different than what we do here. I will be my own receptionist. There already is a team ready to move into this double office. They are already formed. So that leaves what to do with you,” Tess finished all the time looking at Helen to see what reaction she was getting.

“Am I to be put back into the typing pool?” Helen asked.

“Tess shook her head. “Not exactly. This double office has already been allotted to another team as I said. The office where Max and I started is now vacant and Max has asked Fred Wearing to fill it. Now Fred is from the fifth floor, much like Max was at first. He doesn’t have the foggiest idea of what to do. He is a hard worker and given help he might become a rising star. If he succeeds and you can attach yourself to him, you can rise also. I have suggested that you be promoted to his private secretary,” Tess declared.

“What do I do?” for the first time Helen began to have doubts about herself.

“I hope you have been observant of how I run this office. You are to be his office wife. That is, you run everything that you can and do as much as possible to make him look good. You know a lot more about the politics at this level than he does, so it is up to you to guide him until he gets his stuff together. It is said that executives trust the instincts of their secretaries and if the secretary lets them down, they fire her. You must earn that trust with your boss,” Tess finished.

“Ms. Harding, I have some personal questions to ask you,” Helen said.

“Ask, I am not sure I will answer too personal of a question,” Tess replied.

“Ms. Harding, did you ever sleep with your boss?” Helen asked.

At first, a frown went across Tess’s face. That was personal indeed, then Tess remembered asking the same question when she first entered Max’s office. “Ms. Andrews, your job is to keep your boss on task. Many of the executive assistants, do have intimacies with their boss. If you choose to do this, don’t ever mistake it for love. No one knows what kind of guy this Fred Wearing is. Max doesn’t think he is a womanizer, but Max would only have interest in that because someone chasing skirts all the time doesn’t get much work done. Helen,” Helen noticed that Ms. Harding had changed to her given name. “Don’t look for love in the office. It won’t be there. Yes, you can find sex in the office easily, but not love. The answer to your question is no. Max and I never had sex together. It wasn’t a moral issue at first. I was working so hard to make Max look good that I was exhausted. Max was also working so hard to succeed that he, likewise, was exhausted. I was lucky. Max found a girlfriend. I did everything I could to help him while he was dating. I had my own love life and I wanted to disrupt it as little as possible,” Tess explained.

Helen wasn’t through. “Ms. Harding, did you ever regret that you never had an affair with Max?”

“That is a very hard question, Helen. If we had had an affair, we would have compromised our relationships with my boyfriend and his girlfriend. I think because we have become very close friends, neither of us regrets that we didn’t carry something further romantically,” Tess stated.

Helen had to talk to someone. She was afraid to talk to Tess. She knew Max’s phone number so she took a deep breath and called him. “Mr. Evans. Ms Harding has offered me the secretary job with Fred Wearing. I want to take it, but there is something I need to talk to you about,” Helen said.

Max had let Tess make her own choice as to the secretary for Fred. This was another place where her instincts were to be trusted. Max thought he knew what Helen wanted to talk about. Might as well get it out in the open. He gave her an address of a coffee shop near the office. Max would call a cab and meet her there.

Helen was waiting when he got there. She was shaking. Would she loose her nerve and bolt without talking to Mr. Evans? When Helen saw Max enter, this was a relief as part of her indecision was taken away from her. Now, she had to at least talk to the boss.

“Ms. Harding says she thinks I am ready for this job. What do you think?” she asked Max.

“Ms. Andrews, I have learned to trust Ms. Harding in everything she does. That is the way we work together,” Max answered.

“What if you learned something about me that would make all of you hate me? It would ruin my career and also the career of Fred Wearing. I don’t want it discovered sometime in the future and destroy both of our lives,” Helen said.

“Suppose you tell me what it is and we will see,” Max stated.

“Do you remember the time I asked what I would have to do to become your private secretary?” Helen asked.

Max nodded.

“Well, then I thought that all a secretary had to do was type and screw. I knew that I could do each of those very well. It was what you said to me and later what Ms. Harding did for me, that taught me so much. She is the one who has suggested that I be given this job. Do you think she would do that if she knew something very bad about me?” Helen asked.

“That depends, Tess is a very wise and open minded person. She also wants what is best for the company,” Max stated again.

“Helen wouldn’t meet his eyes. “I was the one who started those rumors. I almost caused her boyfriend to die,” she sobbed.

“Detective Padilla always thought it was you. He never had enough evidence to prosecute. We both just watched you to see if you did anything else,” Max said.

“Are you going to turn me in to the police?” Helen asked.

“No,” Max answered.

“Are you going to tell Ms. Harding?” Helen asked again.

“No,” Max answered again.

“Well, what are you going to do?” Helen asked.

Max reached into his pocket. “I picked this up because I thought this was what you wanted to talk about. Don’t ever wear it. Don’t ever let anyone at the office see it. Keep it home somewhere safe and look at it every so often. Remember to do the best you can for Old Fred. He is a good man and if you help him, he can take you far. Feel free to ask Tess if you have any questions about your job.” With that Max dropped the diamond bracelet into her hand. He had acquired it that day when Kyle was in the hospital. “Ms. Andrews, be the best administrative assistant you can be,” with that, Max left to hail a cab to go home. Someday, he really needed to buy a car.
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Who is nicholas and what can he do? Little Napoleon, part one

How many stories have you read about Max going away and leaving Liz behind? I dare say there are several on the board right now. The Regent is a Max/Liz story that, because of how it runs, will end up on UC. I leave it to you to decide what solution is best. Do we really want Liz to live unloved and alone for so many years?