Adultery Cheating and Rivals by xleglover-COMPLETED

[Ramesh_Rocky]

Frank's frown deepened. "Jenny this is unacceptable," he said harshly. "You're saying we won't see each other for 2 weeks. We need more time to explore our relationship."

"Frank we don't have a relationship," Jen said with a half laugh. "We're fuck buddies."

Frank didn't respond for long moments. Then he finally said, "Well, I can only say you mean more to me than that Jenny."

Jen heard hurt in Frank's voice. It was the first time for that. "You have no right to guilt trip me after what you did this weekend," Jen said. "You're lucky I'm still talking to you."

"Jenny ... I know what you want," Frank said.

"And I'm concerned how fast things are going," Jen said. She paused then admitted "You mean something to me too. That's the only reason I'm thinking about setting Mike up with another girl. That'll be really hard for me."

"But it's important," Frank said. "So he'll give us space."

"So he won't get hurt," Jen corrected him.

Frank shrugged at the different semantics. Tomato versus toe-ma-to. In the end the result was the same – Mike would be out of the way. "I'll call Jules right now," he offered. "I believe she's still in the Caribbean. I'll send my jet for her. She'll be here by the weekend."

"Wait Frank, stop, god," Jen said with exasperation. "I said I'm thinking about it. I haven't decided yet."

Frank shook his head, annoyed. "Decide soon Jenny," he said in a hard tone. "I only have so much patience."

"What does that mean?" Jen asked.

"It means soon you might need to find a new fuck buddy," Frank said, emphasizing "fuck buddy" in his voice so as to put quotes around it.

"Are you giving me an ultimatum?" Jen asked disbelievingly. No guy did that to her. She was always the one giving the ultimatums.

Frank read her thoughts. "I'm not like other men Jenny," he said. They were silent for long moments. It was if by silent agreement, they decided to wait for another time to talk about ultimatums.

"The next fundraiser's in Boston," Frank said, moving on to the next item on his agenda. "I'd like us to spend an evening in Belmont."

"Why not stay in Boston?"

"I'd like to see your house," Frank said.

"Are you crazy?" Jen said with an incredulous laugh. Frank went from one bombshell to another. "Have you forgot about my parents?"

"They'll be in Atlantic City for the weekend," Frank said confidently. "At the Borgata."

Jen knew the Borgata was her father's favorite AC casino. Her father was a recreational gambler and went to Atlantic City a few times a year. He loved everything about the Borgata, even its unique scent they piped through the air conditioning.

"Let me guess, you own the Borgata," Jen said.

"Part owner," Frank said.

Things fell into place for Jen. Over the years she wondered how her father afforded his frequent trips to AC. Now she knew. Frank comped him. "Havev you set my father up with girls?" she asked. Her father cheated on her mom numerous times. Jen suspected he still cheated.

"I would never do that Jenny," Frank said. "I respect your mother too much for that. No, the story is simple. I like your father. He likes Atlantic City. I have resources there. I'm not always looking for a quid pro quo. You ask if I have friends. I do. Your father is my friend. So is your mother."

"But this time you're doing it to get rid of my parents," Jen pointed out.

"That's true," Frank admitted with a chuckle. "But they get a free weekend in Atlantic City. Where's the harm?"

"Why do you want to go to my house?"

"There are things best done in Belmont." Frank said enigmatically. "We're on an exploration Jenny. I know what you want. Trust me."

About an hour later a private courier arrived with a large unmarked box. Jen opened it. Her eyes opened wide when she saw the contents.

The box was full of custom bras. They were from La Perla, the luxurious lingerie boutique in Milano Italy. There was a note from Claudia, her fashion consultant: "Jenny darling, you'll love these bras from La Perla. The owner Alessandra herself designed the bras from your measurements. Someday you must meet her, she's fabulous. You'll love these bras Jenny, they'll feel like you're wearing nothing at all. Call me any time. Ciao – Claudia."

Jen ran her hand though the bras. There had to be 2 dozen at least. All were delicate, lacy and beautiful. About half were padded. The others were unpadded and unlined.

Jen hurriedly took off her blouse. She took off her bra and put on one of the new padded ones. Her eyes went wide at how it felt. It WAS like wearing nothing! Looking in the mirror, it was so beautiful!

She put her blouse back on and closed the box. She was excited about the upcoming fundraiser and evening in Belmont. Nervous too, but that added to the excitement. What did Frank have planned? He was an ass and controlling but so exciting too. And now she had all these beautiful bras.

Jen wanted to thank him. But they argued during their last call (parts of it anyways). She wasn't ready to call him back so soon. So instead she texted him: "I got the bras. I love them! I'm sorry we can't see each other this weekend but I'll be thinking of you."

Jen hesitated, thinking about how to end the message. She finally wrote "L, Jenny." She added "XOXO." Then she hit send.

****************

Inside the CATF campus, Mike sat at the QC (quantum computer) meeting. He stayed quiet, getting a feel for the people in the room. The QC team was made up of 2 informal groups. The "Brain Trust" was full of older, gray haired Nobel Laureates and other distinguished scientists and researchers. The Brain Trust was unofficially led by Abraham.

Mike thought of the other group as the "Young Turks." They were young and enthusiastic and ready to take over the world. Mike had met some of them before: Cal, Anne, Jim and Martha (who modified his software to hack into AMC's servers to get an advance screening of the Walking Dead spinoff).

It seemed like the Turks were led by Brent, a tall guy a little older than Mike. Mike could tell immediately that Brent was brilliant. He knew it too. Brent's brilliance bordered on brashness and arrogance. The Turks often deferred to Brent's opinions. Mike noticed the Brain Trust did too, including Abraham.

Cal, Anne, Jim and Martha seemed excited to have Mike at the meeting. Abraham and the Brain Trust welcomed Mike as well. Brent was the least pleased to see Mike there. Mike understood why. Brent was the top dog and the last thing he wanted was someone intruding on his turf.

Mike was happy to take a back seat on the QC project. Mike was there only because of Colonel Bank's veiled threats (delivered through Allen). Well, fine. That didn't mean Mike had to participate. He was more than happy to listen to Brent and the others drone on and on at the white board. So Mike sipped coffee and only paid half attention as the others droned on about how to solve the QC problem.

Mike had no plans or interest to sabotage the QC project. He was done being a hero. But, he took silent pleasure in seeing the QC team going in the wrong direction. Mike had an intuition about math and computers. From the math on the white board, he could tell Brent and Abraham were leading the team in the wrong direction.

As Abraham and Brent took turns at the white board, they handed a yellow tennis ball back and forth. The person talking at the board held the ball.

"What's with the ball?" Mike whispered to Cal.

"Conflict resolution," Cal whispered back. "We used to have arguments with people talking over each other. The person with the ball has the floor. He's the team leader while he holds the ball."

"It seems like only Abraham and Brent hold the ball," Mike observed.

"Yeah, mostly," Cal said. "We do small group breakouts where everyone talks, but with all-hands meetings like this it's mostly Abraham and Brent."

"Not the best approach," Mike said. "You get the best creativity when everyone's involved."

"I know, I agree," Cal said. Then he looked hopefully at Mike. "Hey, maybe you can talk to Abraham and Brent, or Allen. Change things. You're the Phantom. You have clout."

"I'm not the leader type," Mike said. He added with an embarrassed laugh, "Don't call me Phantom again. Makes me cringe. I have no idea how they came up with that."

Cal moved closer to Mike and whispered "You know you're the only person here with a codename? Brent and Abraham don't have codenames. Neither does Allen. You're famous Mike. You ought to speak up."

"Notorious more like," Mike said. It seemed Cal thought he was something he wasn't. Maybe the other Turks (other than Brent) thought so too. But that wasn't Mike. Yes, he had led projects before, but it wasn't his preference. He was a loner. He didn't feel comfortable in groups. He said to Cal, "I'm new here. Don't want to step on any toes."

During a break Mike went into the lunch room for more coffee. He saw a girl sitting with the Turks. He didn't recognize her at first. Then his eyes opened wide. It was Maria Fernandez from Penn State! (Author's note: See Cheating and Rivals – Parts 4 and 7)

"Maria?" Mike said hesitantly. Maria was Jen's age, 29. She was as gorgeous as ever (back in college, Jen and Maria tied at #2 as the prettiest girls on campus).

"Oh my god, Mike Andrews," Maria said with a big smile. "I heard you joined the QC team."

"I didn't know you worked here," Mike said.

"You're kind of hard to miss," Maria said with a grin.

"Yeah, he's notorious," Cal joked, smiling at Mike at their inside joke.

Mike grinned at Cal. Looking back at Maria, he said, "I didn't see you in the Bunker." They called the big conference room the "Bunker." The Bunker was actually more than a conference room. There were computers and huge monitors everywhere. It looked like NASA's mission control. During crises, the Bunker was CATF's op center.