Being a Man for Himself Ch. 02

"He was still married to this other woman and then I found out he was a bit too close to his sister. He told me he was going to leave his wife but he just hadn't done it yet. That's just too crazy for me."

"Yeah. He should have thought that through a bit more."

"No kidding."

"So if I asked you to marry me, what would you say?"

"What? Is that a real question?"

"Yes."

"Aren't you still trying to get an annulment?"

"Yes. And I'll likely spend the rest of my life in jail. But you're going to have my child and I'd like that child to know that their parents are married."

"Jail is kind of a block, though."

"I am serious about being a father. I'd hate to be an absentee father but, you know, some kind of father is better than no kind of father."

After lunch, Henry had to say goodbye to Merissa. He really did just want to spend the rest of the daylight with her but he was now juggling two different things. He kissed her and said he'd call her later and then he was off.

Henry went to see four different people in their offices. Ostensibly, he was there looking for a job. He was there to make money but he hadn't actually planned for it to come from his own labor. His cv was more of a prospectus and his potential employers Henry saw as either potential partners or customers. Some of the people Henry had gone to see were a bit confused why he was there wasting their time. What was pitched to them as a meeting about whatever Henry had used to get his foot into the door then turned into a job interview. That was already confusing enough but then it became a sales talk but with nothing to close on.

On top of that, instead of Henry being clean shaven and in a tie, he sported a beard and was only wearing a polo shirt. So the meetings felt very informal and Henry was able to attempt a joke or two.

When each meeting ended the thing that Henry hoped would stick in their minds wasn't the fact that Henry seemed out of place. What Henry really hoped was that each of them would remember the story. The numbers told a story and Henry had become the storyteller, translating from one language into another. If the story made sense, Henry hoped he'd made a big enough impression on them for them to want to contact him and ask for more information.

The last thing he did that day was sort of the scariest. Henry didn't know if his house was really bugged or not. He didn't know if he was being watched or not. He certainly wasn't going to go downtown to the police station and just put his head in the mouth of the lion. He also didn't know if the owners of the fish market were complicit in the criminal activity in city hall or not. But he felt a moral obligation to at least get on record as warning them.

While he waited, he organized his papers and did the same with his thoughts. He might only have one chance at this and it was actually really important.

Up on the third floor, Henry was waiting outside of an office that had a view of the large sales area below and out to the dock. The whole place smelled of seafood and other things. When Henry was invited into the office it was refreshing to see a guy about Henry's same age and also in a polo shirt.

"Mr. Cooper. John Kent. What can I do for you?"

"Just Henry, please. Can I call you John?"

"Sure."

"Are you involved in the relocation plan?"

"Pretty involved. Why do you ask?"

Henry took out his copies and handed them to John across his desk. "I think a pretty big oversight might have been made and I'd like to bring it to your attention."

The man looked skeptical. "Why? What am I looking at here?"

"I might just be an idiot who doesn't know what he's talking about but there's a chance that site is still contaminated."

John shook his head. "We got the ok from the EPA a year ago."

"I know. Look who did the test for the EPA."

"I appreciate your concern but in science, it doesn't matter who does the test."

"It might if the test was rigged to give a false result."

"Do you have any proof of that?"

Henry had to admit the truth. "No. Not yet."

"Well, Mr. Cooper, again I appreciate your concern but we're confident in the results from the EPA. And even if we weren't we already did our own testing."

"You did?"

"Of course." John said with a laugh. "We published our findings in last year's annual report."

"I don't suppose I could get a copy of that."

"Sure. We're happy that the public is interested." John picked up his phone and told the person on the other end to bring a copy of the test results. "So, Mr. Cooper, if that's all, here's my card. Please feel free to give me a call if you have any other questions or concerns."

"Just one more question, if you'll indulge me."

"Sure. Shoot."

"You did go dig up the samples that you tested yourself, right?"

"Me personally. No."

"Someone who works for you?"

"No. The city provided the samples."

"Oh really. That's bad."

"Why? It's the normal way that these things are done. We don't own ..."

"The city conducted the test for the EPA and then the city provided the samples that you tested and you don't see a problem with that?"

Henry saw the gears in his mind working as John's expression slowly changed. "I'd only see it as a problem if I had reason to believe the city wasn't being honest. Do you have anything to support an accusation of ..."

"Yes. Double yes. But look. Don't take my word for it. Go to the site. Dig below the top soil and see what you find. Maybe I'm wrong. I'd love to be wrong. But maybe I'm not. And even if the site is contaminated, I'm sure you've got ways to make sure it doesn't affect the quality of the food. I'm sure you'll be very careful and test, and double test. Maybe you think everything will be fine. Maybe I'd even agree with you. But then I think about my mom. There's no way she would buy anything that went through there if she felt there was even a chance it would poison her family. I sort of have the feeling that a lot of other people wouldn't want to either even if they even just suspected that there were chemicals getting into their food. Come on. It's just a test. A couple of days, a week at most. It'll set you back a couple of thousand. Hell, I'll pay for it if you want."

John was sitting and taking all this in. His eyes started to drift off to the side. Then he slowly took a breath and swallowed.

"Do you have a business card?"

"All my information is right there on page one."

"Ok. I'll take care of this and then I'll be in touch. Can you promise me not to talk about any of this until I contact you?"

"No problem. For what it's worth, I hope I'm wrong and I'm not trying to cause trouble for you."

"Well, ... we'll see."

Time was getting short and the traffic lights were in Henry's way. Still, it was ok. Even if he didn't get home on time, he had a good excuse. He was doing as the judge had ordered.

Henry found Amy waiting for him at the fertility clinic. Henry was going to have to leave a sample. Henry filled out the paperwork and then waited to be called into one of the masturbation rooms. However, instead of looking at magazines and jerking off, Amy was there with him. The nurses didn't even ask who she was.

When the door was closed the siblings just laughed.

"They really don't care if we have sex in here." Amy said.

"I guess not. They probably think you're my wife."

"Well, let's get to it."

They wasted no time. She was on her back on the little armless sofa the clinic had in there and Henry started to just fuck the shit out of her. They'd been going at it so often recently that it took a while for him to build up to a climax. When Henry finally got there he pulled out and thought about the fact that this was the very first time for him to ever pull out of her.

He filled the cup up and then he thought they'd just get dressed and leave. No. Amy wanted more. Henry put the cap on the cup and then went back to his sister who kissed him deeply and helped get him back into position. His cock went in and out of her and she was sort of struggling to reach her own orgasm. But she didn't give up. She moaned as loud as she could. She didn't care if they heard or not. Henry thought that maybe she wanted them to hear. She sweated and panted and then she reached the top. Henry could see that this was a big one for her and he was happy to please her.

After that they got dressed, Amy with her pistol and all. She was on his arm when they left and Amy gave no fucks if they were seen on camera like that or not.

When they got home, Keiko was already locked in her room. That made Henry happy. If he could make it all the way through to bed time without Keiko talking to him, it would be a perfect day.

Henry spent his evening making another video explaining what the current numbers said and what he thought they meant. He didn't say what he was going to buy or not buy, since he hadn't fully decided himself, and he didn't exactly have the capital to make any moves.

Before going to sleep, Amy had a wicked idea she wanted to try. She knocked on Keiko's door and Henry's wife told her to go away. Instead of going away, Amy put her back to the door and Henry fucked her while she was pressed up against it.

"I love you." she said to him.

"As you should. I'm your brother."

As his dick was going in and out of his sister, the numbers were going through his head and he could see a possible future where financial pressure would cause these people to do this and then those other people would react to that. Then there would be an opening and Henry could go in and establish an equity position. It could work.

...

Friday.

On the 31st floor of some building, Henry did his best to get one of the members of the board of that company to see what he saw. She just looked at him and then asked one of her aides if they knew what Henry was talking about. The aide said she didn't so Henry had another five minutes to try to get them to understand.

At the end of the meeting, they said that it sounded very interesting but they'd need time to think about it and study it and if they wanted to do something they'd let him know. Henry had worked in this town long enough to know that what she said meant they weren't buying it.

In the elevator going back down to street level he felt that self doubt come up again. Had they really not understood or was Henry really the one in the dark. He decided to go over his logic one more time.

The way he figured it, even if everything he assumed was wrong, he'd still make a bit of money or break even. Even if nothing moved the way he thought it would, he'd be a part owner of a nice enterprise that could pay Merissa and her child a small dividend in the future and having the money there kept it away from Keiko. So it wasn't all bad. He started to really become convinced that there was some vital piece of knowledge that he didn't have which was why he was the only one going after what might be a phantom opportunity.

He drove around and tried to get at least one more meeting in that morning but nothing was working out for him.

For lunch, again he met Merissa.

"I hate that I only get to see you like this." she said.

"I'm sorry. Hey, do you want to come to my house?"

"Where your wife is?"

"Yeah. It'll be fun."

"I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Your wife is there."

"I don't care. Keiko thinks I can't move on. Maybe if she sees that I already have she'll finally stop fighting to keep a marriage that never was."

"Won't that get you in trouble?"

"What trouble? I'm going to spend the rest of my life in prison. What more trouble could I possibly get in? I mean really, I could go kill someone and it wouldn't add a day to my sentence. There are rapists who will serve less time than me."

"Maybe you should just run."

"Wherever I went, they'd find me."

"You have to do something."

"I could kill the prosecutor. If my child has to grow up without his father then his kids should have to do the same."

"Henry, you know you're not going to kill anyone."

"I could have Amy do it for me."

"Are you and her still ... close?"

"I won't lie to you."

"Well?"

"As much as ever."

"Why?"

"She's all I have."

"No, cause you have me, too."

"I told you if you want to be part of my family, then you're just ..."

"Henry, I'm going to have your baby. You're not the gatekeeper of the family anymore. I'm in."

"Then come spend the weekend with me."

"I thought your sister was going to go see a doctor."

"She was, but then I went to jail."

"Well, me, you, and her are going to need to sit down and have a talk."

"Great. Tomorrow at my house. You only need to show up."

"Fine. I'll be there."

Later that day, while Henry was making more copies of documents at an office supply shop, two police cars pulled up and officers got out. Shit. Henry started looking around for a back door to the place. Then, through the glass of the shop, Henry saw more cop cars come up and Henry looked around for security cameras. If he was going to get beat down, then he wanted it on camera.

But no. The cops weren't coming in. Instead, it looked like there were two groups of cops outside and they were facing off with each other. Henry couldn't hear what they were saying and maybe he had to check his ego. Perhaps this had nothing to do with him.

Eventually, that heavy set cop showed up and then one of the groups of police left. The other group was still outside waiting when the fat cop came into the shop and pointed Henry out of the crowd of on lookers.

"Mr. Cooper, are you almost done here?"

"Why are you asking?"

"You're under a court order. Don't you think it's about time you went home to your wife."

"I'm job hunting."

The cop shook his head. "It's Friday afternoon. You got a job interview lined up or something?"

"No, I'm making copies of ..."

"Then come on. Get in your car and go home. I'll give you a police escort to make sure no one hinders your way."

"What was all that about out there?"

"Nothing for you to be concerned with. Now let's get you home before your wife starts to worry."

Henry had been shaken up by all this and he felt himself getting more and more pissed off as he drove to that damn house. Henry walked into the house hours earlier than he wanted to be there. His sister wasn't there yet and Keiko was waiting for him. Henry rolled his eyes. What fucking bullshit was she going to spout off now?

"Tomorrow, I'm having a ..." she started to say.

"I don't fucking care. You want to talk to me then get out of your clothes."

Henry walked around her and she called out to him with his name. Henry spun around and then put his finger in her face.

"Master. That's what you call me. You're not worthy to use my name."

He didn't let her get a word in. The fucking bitch, calling the cops to have them come and force him to go home. He ought to punch her just for that.

Henry went into the study to hopefully get some work done on the computer if he had to be home and Keiko was following him. He figured he knew how to stop that. He slammed the door in her face as hard as he could and a piece of the door got broken in the process.

This was fucking bullshit. Look at the time. There were still so many things he could get done today. He opened the lid on his laptop and as it sprung to life he heard a light tapping on the door.

Oh, so she hadn't had enough yet. Maybe Henry would have to break something for the dumb child to finally fucking understand.

"What?" he yelled out with hatred.

He heard the door open but he wasn't even going to give her the satisfaction of looking at her.

"I swear, if you're wasting my fucking time I'm going to wrap a metal bar around your fucking neck and hang you from the roof with it."

"Master." he heard her say in a meek voice.

"What?" he said with anger and then turned to look at her. She was standing by the door of the study with no clothes on. "Are you fucking playing with me?"

"No, master." From the sound of her voice, she did not like saying that to him.

"Fine. What? What do you want to say? And hurry it the fuck up."

"Tomorrow I'm hosting a luncheon on the back lawn for some of my clients."

"No."

"It'll start at one and ..."

"I said no. You don't have my permission to do that."

"This is my house."

Henry stood up and went to her. She started to back away from his approach.

"This is My House." he said.

"I pay the mortgage."

"I don't care. If I live here then this is MY HOUSE." he screamed into her ear. "Not yours. MINE."

She flinched like she thought he might actually hit her.

"As long as I'm here, you can keep your whole fake fucking consulting bullshit out of my house."

"It's not fake."

"If you believe that then you're living in fucking fantasy land."

"I have clients."

"No you don't."

"I do. I have paying clients."

"All you have are a bunch of vultures who take advantage of you and steal my money. But you're too fucking stupid to realize it."

"They have been paying our bills."

"Your bills. My bills were being paid by the taxpayers until you had the bright fucking idea to force me to come live with you."

"You're my husband."

"No, I'm not. I'm just a guy you tricked into letting you leech off of him. But that shit is over."

"Please. Tanomu. Please." she said as she started to cry.

Henry considered her for a moment.

"The mother of my children is coming here tomorrow. You don't touch her. You don't look at her. You don't speak to her. Got it?"

"What?"

"I ASKED YOU IF YOUR STUPID ASS GOT IT?"

"I got it. I got it."

Henry came close to her and very calmly whispered into her ear. "If I find out you even glanced in her general direction I'll burn this whole fucking house down ... With ... You ... In It."

"What about my luncheon?"

"I already said no."

"Please. It's very important."

"Not to me. Some asshole shows up here who I don't know and I'll gut him. This is my house and I'm going to defend it."

"Ok. We won't come in the house. But please. I have to make this ..."

"Then you should have thought about that before fucking me over and lying about me."

"We need this. I mean it. I'm not lying. We don't have enough money for ..."

"And whose fault is that? Oh, right. Yours. Because you don't know how to live on a budget or save a fucking cent."

"We're going ... to lose ... the house."

"I don't ... fucking ... care."

"Why are you being like this?"

"Because you're a bitch who doesn't know the first fucking thing about being a good wife. Epic fail. That's you. You ruined my life. The least you could have done was let me be a father but you were too fucking wrapped up in your own bullshit. So now you're too late. I'm going to have a kid but not with you."

She was silent. He waited for her to say something but she was silent. Oh, so she lost her taste for battle. Fine. Let her stand there and look stupid. He went back to his computer and started looking at his email. From the corner of his eye he could see that she was still standing there.

Oh, look at that. Interesting. An investment group was interested in some of Henry's ideas. Henry typed a response to their question and sent it off. Then he looked at the numbers and wondered what he could say in a new video.

She was still there in the room. She wasn't making any noise or anything but just her being there was starting to annoy him.

"Why are you still here?"

"I need those clients."

"Well then you better make plans to have your little fucking lunch bullshit somewhere else."

"It's not that easy."

"Of course not. Because nothing is easy for an idiot like you. The dumbest fucking bimbo out there is smart enough to get pregnant but somehow you just can't manage to do it right."