I was trying to take my mind off everything with Maverick and Jude. At first glance, they were charming and sexy. Two men who run their own powerful business and have every important person in the investment market on their side and tucked into their finely tailored pockets… but there was something else about them most people don’t see and it’s what they’ve showed me. Their particular sexual tastes and prowess… I knew that was the private part of their lives, I just didn’t think I would get sucked into it. It didn’t matter how powerful or beautiful they were, they shouldn’t have told me they would make plans and then not speak to me for seven days. Only to show up when I was enjoying my own private life, and whisk me away.
Though it wasn’t like I protested, it wasn’t like I said no. And once I knew what they had in mind, there was definitely no way I was saying no. I was in a permanent weird horny limbo since the first night we were together, and I was still feeling it that night at the club. Not even dancing with my best friend helped—I wished he was here so I could tell him everything, or as much as I was allowed to. But that night at the club… God it was so intense. I had no idea two men could be so infuriating and addicting at the same time. The way they could so easily get my body thrumming, my body singing for more of their rough touches and sinful simulations.
Maverick just had a way of making me his prisoner—making me submit to anything he would want. The way he was so kind and relaxed as a person, and then kissed me like he owned every part of me and didn’t care was a mind trip. And Jude too, his crass behavior and short personality was nothing like the way he kissed me; all soft and sweet like he wanted to coax me into doing anything he wanted. Which I would.
But just as I expected, his sexual demands were just like him. The way he would throw me down, and did throw me down; then get me to say the naughty things I was thinking that I never thought I would ever say out loud. And his words too, so dirty and unbecoming but it suited him. I could still feel the way he would whisper in my arm, and bark his dirty commands to me and I would follow willingly. I was barely versed in having sex with one man, let alone two. But they didn’t care, they knew how to train me in the moment and get me where they needed me to be.
My body was still sore from it. That chair wasn’t the biggest thing in the world and I was on it for quite some time, hence the long soak I had to take. And after our little escapade was over, when I was just sitting between them I felt something. Jude was coming down from his alcohol and anger, while Maverick was just enjoying my presence. Why would they enjoy me when they ignored me for an entire week? Getting mad about me being out with a friend whilst they were entertaining two other women didn’t make any sense at all. Men didn’t make any sense at all to me and they weren’t normal men, so it was even worse.
It didn’t change the fact that at this point, I didn’t trust them. I didn’t trust their methods or their reasons for having me to agree to this weird relationship. Because even after another three days, they hadn’t spoken to me at all. I was nothing to them, and it sucked, but I expected it. Men like them don’t settle for women, don’t feel the need to keep women happy because they knew there was another at their disposal.
I didn’t realize I had navigated away from Facebook on my laptop to my google search, and was typing in the name of their company. Maybe I would see it in a different light then from when I was in law school and just admired the company so much and wanted to work for them so badly, that they could do nothing wrong. But I knew the people behind the company, and could see things differently. Maybe the two of them just weren’t as honest as they seemed. I didn’t want to believe it, but no one was perfect.
I read through so many articles about their early days and how they started and I had seen it before. They were roommates in college, how original. And had been in different majors at the time but once they had the idea for the company, they submitted it to numerous contests and grant submissions, when their university itself finally accepted their proposal. They took the money and started their first business model, a simple investment holding company that specialized in personal assets. Their first few clients lasted them up until graduation and they branched out to bigger accounts, something more serious. I was impressed with how ambitious they really were at the time, and now too. They got small office space to operate and this was only a few years ago, before they branched out into company holdings. These larger accounts netted them more capital and they used those few investments to grow. Then they started to tap into the bigger markets, and bigger companies. Everyone described them as cutthroat and ambitious, smart, and cunning. They weren’t lying.
For the past few years they had pretty much risen from the dust to become what they were today. They invested in nothing less than ten million dollars, with nothing less than that same amount and they always profited more than double, sometimes triple. Their own worth of the company was large on its own, they could invest it ten times over and still break even. I thought that was insane. And so when I looked at their stock, I was shocked to find it so low. The lowest it had been. There was a recent article on it even. So I wasn’t the only one noticing.
I was surprised to find it highlighting their only rival company of the same size, some Hatchett something. I personally had never even heard of them, but apparently they were important. They never invested together, but their stock went down as soon as they did a joint investment in some tech company. But I thought the problem wasn’t coming from Jude and Maverick at all, as much as I wanted to hate them.
I did more digging on this Hatchett company, run by an old man way over his time limit. I wondered what he was even doing still working, he was beyond retirement years. Once I checked his credentials in a different tab, I found out he didn’t have much experience either, the company seemed to come up out of nowhere. I realized this was all a little obsessive, but I had no job, and this was something to do.
So I found out this guy wasn’t on the up and up and another article, more speculation, led me to believe he was in fact, unqualified. Not only that, but a lying schemer. I couldn’t believe Maverick and Jude were in business with him. Did this firm up my belief they weren’t good guys? Or had they been duped? Is this why they hadn’t called?
So I called Maverick first, because Jude honestly wasn’t that approachable. I realized I could have called them before when they were ignoring me, but how would I ask when our next sexual appointment would be? Right, that sounded super low key and sexy.
He took three rings before he answered, “Hello Henley, I’m surprised to see you calling. How are you?”
God his voice was distracting. “Right, I’m fine. Look, I have a question for you.”
“Yes?” I could hear the smile in his voice and I ignored it as I went on.
“What do you know about Hatchett Enterprises? I know you’re in business with them on this latest investment.” I cut right to the chase.
“Um. Okay. I don’t know, we’ve had some smaller deals with the owner before. Why?” I could hear the question in his voice and I was sure he was wondering why the hell I knew about it, but I didn’t care. I was going to figure this shit out.
I also didn’t want to come off too strong so I thought about my words carefully, but there was no easy way to say anything about this. What I found would be horrible if it were true, and I knew it was already. So it was all left to Maverick, and for me to grow some courage and ask him. I was suddenly glad I hadn’t called Jude instead.
“Henley? Are you there?”
“Yeah, I’m here.” I inhaled sharply as I closed my laptop and thought deeply to myself. I had to help them, if they didn’t know. I just had to be the bigger person here and hope they didn’t think I was being spiteful. “I think you’ve been involved in a Ponzi scheme.”
18
Maverick
I settled in for the first relaxing night in a while, before I realized I had no reason to be relaxed, because my mind was racing with so much shit. Work, yeah. But for the fi
rst time, a woman.
Henley.
I wasn’t as pissed as Jude was and I still wasn’t sure if it was just the alcohol that made him all aggressive. He still hadn’t even talked about it and it had been a few days. We went to work as usual, going over everything we usually did, and hadn’t said a word about her. We weren’t sure where our agreement stood, and it wasn’t like a specific time clock was written into it or anything. I just knew we should have been more forthcoming with her, but it wasn’t like I could turn back time or anything.
And if I could, I would turn back to that night at the club, where we had her so roughly I was still feeling it in my nerves. I never had sex that was that good, that connection so undeniable that it couldn’t be ignored. Henley and her luscious body were too much for my mind to handle.
And I spent the night trying to get her out of it. I ate dinner alone in my wing of the estate and took my scotch to my room for more stewing when my cell rang, not many people had that direct number. I saw the caller ID come up as Henley, and I was pleased to say the least. I could only imagine what she would have to say, I knew she would speak her mind at some point about how she had been treated.
We tended to her, and she enjoyed it. There couldn’t have been much else to it. I gave the phone three good rings before I sat at the desk in my bedroom and answered.
“Hello Henley, I’m surprised to see you calling. How are you?” I smiled to myself, charming her with the ease in my voice.
“Right, I’m fine. Look, I have a question for you.” She snapped. I frowned slightly, noticing the shortness in her voice. I had never heard Henley sound like that, and I immediately wanted to know what was wrong, but she seemed to have a different urgency in her voice.
“Yes?” I smiled, intrigued by what she could have to ask me.
“What do you know about Hatchett Enterprises? I know you’re in business with them on this latest investment.” She cut right to the chase and didn’t waste time. But I immediately wondered how she knew that. It wasn’t a matter of public record yet, and I thought only Jude and I knew about it.
“Um. Okay. I don’t know, we’ve had some small deals with the owner before. Why?” I gave her a simple answer, not disclosing much. I realized again that Henley was a smart and educated young woman, a licensed lawyer who could probably find out anything with just a little digging.
“Henley? Are you there?” I pried, as she had suddenly disappeared. I heard her breathing on the other line, but didn’t get much out of her.
“Yeah, I’m here.” She inhaled sharply as if afraid. “I think you’ve been involved in a Ponzi scheme.”
My fingers went dead around the phone as I took in her words. So many questions rant through my head, and I didn’t know where to start. Was she working for someone, getting inside secrets on us? Had we been set up?
Henley was smart, but she wasn’t manipulative, so I hoped that wouldn’t be the case. But I took in her words and tried to find a way around it. I knew she wasn’t going anywhere though, so I knew I had to tackle this head on.
“What makes you think that?” I asked her, as generic as possible.
“I don’t think, Maverick. I know.” She snapped again. I was taken aback but chuckled nervously.
“Okay. And how do you know?” I revised my question.
“I did some digging, a lot of it. And I found some background information on this Derek Hatchett person, behind Hatchett Enterprises. Anyway, he has been buying and selling parts of his own company for years and then branched out into creating false trusts so other companies would do the same thing. And you did—your initial stake from three million to thirty million has been sitting in their fake company thing just accumulating these false trusts for weeks now.”
I took in her explanation word for word and tried to calm my mind from screaming about it. I knew something was off, I just knew something didn’t seem right and now I was sure of it. Henley wouldn’t lie and that was a hell of a lot to make up, so I knew she was right. We had been played and now we were fucked. Unfortunately, not by Henley.
“Wow. Okay.” I sighed.
Henley did the same and I heard some noise on her end, “I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true. It’s how they’ve gone unnoticed. When they are done driving the cost up, they liquidate, cut their losses and strip for fake assets. The companies that invested lose, and they keep all profits. The whole thing is a scam.” She spoke quickly, and I heard the passion in her voice. I knew she was good as a corporate lawyer, but she was investigative too. Better than I expected.
“Yeah, I can see that. Thank you for bringing this to me.” I told her. There was silence on both ends. I realized I hadn’t spoken to Henley since I stuffed her in our town car and then dropped her off at her apartment, and that was after we had that wild sex in a coat closet, for crying out loud. And now she was talking some serious shit and I was seeing her in an even better light.
“Yeah. You’re welcome… so, what will you do?” Her voice softened.
I took a deep breath as I thought. But there was no way I could make a decision in the moment, not without thinking it over more or talking to Jude.
“I don’t know, Henley. I have to discuss this with Jude. Thank you again for bringing it to my attention.”
“No problem, I knew I had to say something and I doubted you two would willingly enter into something like this. At least I hoped not.” She laughed once uneasily.
I smiled softly, “That’s kind of you.”
“I suppose. Look I gotta go, I’ll… talk to you later, I think.” I could practically hear her biting her lip.
“You will, I promise. Now you know why we’ve been so absent. I’m sorry, we’ll get this all figured out. ”
“Bye.” She hung up before I could say anything else. I sensed she was angry with me, but I needed to handle this first. And stressed out.
I sighed and decided to table the issue until the next morning. I could speak with Jude about it while we were in the office and it was appropriate. Now, I just wanted a somewhat relaxing night and it wouldn’t involve stressing out about work.
I got up from my desk and changed into my swim trunks to use our roof top pool. We had to blow over a lot of regulations to get it installed, but it was worth it in the end. I liked not having it out in the backyard because that’s where the garden was. We kept our grounds nice, and Jude didn’t care much but we had hired a designer anyway.
I took a long swim in the pool to relax and clear my head and I still didn’t see Jude all night. I retreated to my room and showered before settling into my silk sheets to try and get a good night sleep. It was no fucking use, I tossed and turned until my alarm went off at five, and I got up for my morning workout. Our gym fit like a sky room, and the sun shined through as I went through a weight circuit, skipping cardio because I didn’t feel like it. I had my usual egg white breakfast and coffee, dressed in a gray suit to match my mood, and then headed to work.
The office looked the same, everyone was acting normal, and had no idea the company was in the middle of a shit storm. I guess we were good at being secretive. I dreaded talking to Jude so much that I checked all my emails first, and replied to the important things first. I had a few meetings scheduled that I just rescheduled for later, and planned to go over things with them once Jude and I came to a decision. Finally, I shot him a text and he arrived in my office minutes later.
“What do you want, man?” Jude said his usual greeting and sat on my desk. Which he knew I hated.
“We need to talk. It’s serious.” I looked at him pointedly. He blinked and nodded once before sitting on the chair opposite my desk.
“Okay. What is it?” His pointer finger went to his temple as he leaned on the chair.
“Henley brought some things to my attention last night.” I started. His brow raised in interest and I continued. “She had done some research and found some things that were off about Hatchett.”
“Besides his gout?” Jude chu
ckled.
I frowned and stared at him. “It’s serious. Look, the whole operation is a Ponzi scheme. His company, the investments… everything was a fucking scam.”
Jude widened his eyes I was sure the same way I had, and stared at me dead pan. I did the same and took in my own words. Saying it for the first time made everything so real.
“Shit.” He finally said.
“Yeah. Shit.”
“And we’re sure she’s right?”
“She definitely isn’t wrong. I don’t know where all of information came from, but it’s good. She’s a better lawyer than we thought.”
“What do you want to do?” He leaned back in the chair and huffed. Neither of us wanted to do anything, quite frankly.
“The first thing we have to do is cut our losses. Just cut off the investment and cut it even for how much we went in. That way the company isn’t impacted, and it can even be written off in back taxes.” I thought quickly.
Having Jude there fueled my ideas, his brooding face helped me think a lot, honestly. It was how we made most of our investments in the beginning, and started everything up.
“Sounds good. Put it in play.”
“On it.” I did some clicking on my computer to send the right stuff off to financial. They knew not to make a fuss over it.
“I still can’t believe Henley found this out.” Jude said.
“Yeah. She’s something else man, we never would have caught it.” I said. Jude nodded and grinned slightly.
“I always knew she had potential.”
I cocked my head. “Couldn’t have been able to tell with the way you treated her at first.”
He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, whatever. Henley saved our asses, so things have changed.”
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