Dumb Luck
Page 43
Supreet proved invaluable over the next day, as much my PA as her boss’s. She got the contract manager into the morning meeting in addition to the primaries. I introduced Don and our new partnership. I described how the Inland Marine telematics work they want done is something that Don already has fleshed out, but doesn’t have a customer for. Then I talked to them about how this service would increase customer loyalty and how their customers could be expected to react to the proper presentation of the value proposition. That hooked the Underwriting Exec. The low-cost, service-based solution got the attention of both the Operations Exec and the IT Exec. The Contracting Manager liked that we had terms and conditions complete in a Statement of Work, and I had already approved the Master Services Agreement. The Operations Exec said that the funds were approved; so, we just needed to come to agreement over terms.
Supreet fed Don and I lunch. The dinner was arranged and she managed to get all the players there. The meeting with the contract manager and lawyer went well. I had Tom and Megan on the phone and shared out screens remotely. We had details ironed out in just under an hour. I signed the agreements and I thanked everyone for their help. Peter, the contracting manager, said he would see if he could get signatures wrapped before we left for the day. The dinner turned into a celebration dinner rather than a sales dinner, but we spent plenty of my newly acquired cash regardless. Don committed to getting back to them the next week to agree kick-off and team members. We agreed another face-to-face for kick-off after Thanksgiving. We broke up the event with handshakes and smiles.
Don and I walked back to the hotel with Supreet holding onto our arms. We all had a drink at the bar together, and then Don winked at me and headed upstairs. I paid the bill and Supreet went with me up to my hotel room. I peeled her out of her clothes slowly and tasted every inch of her. She was nervous when she asked me to leave her virginity intact. I assured her that I would, and that she definitely has the job as my Hartford girlfriend without any sex at all. She hugged me and assured me kissing and petting were allowed. We had a good laugh at that, but she eventually got worried about the hour as her parents would be waiting for her. Apparently, they are a very traditional Indian family. I kissed her and told her I claimed her as my own. I caught a flash of gold in her eyes just before she closed them to smother me in kisses.
Friday morning I checked out and got to the Hartford airport. It was reminiscent of the day I met Myra a little over a week ago. It was too early to call her, but I sent her an email from my phone as I stood in line. I wished her a great day and said I loved her and missed her. Then I shrugged and sent a similar one to Trina and a third to Kristina. I got through security, grabbed a breakfast sandwich and coffee. I sat down and had them as I sat and shook my head at how the world goes round in circles, looking forward to my weekend with the elves and Kristina tomorrow.
The End
Who and What
● Artefacts
Helm & hood (Eliana)
mail/cuirass (Durec)
gauntlet (Jacob)
shield (Yoren)
(2) greaves (Hob...Bobo & Pally)
dagger (Eventide)
sword (Morningstar)
Kilt / belt (Gisela)
● People:
○ Summer Court
■ Christie Cavanaugh
■ Titania- Summer Queen
■ Corwyn - Titania’s brother, attacker of Myra, killed by Jack
○ Winter Court
■ House Nessa (Mac Nessus)
● Queen Ariana Nessus (Ariana ab Selwyn Mac Nessus) - Winter Queen, Queen of Air &. Darkness
● Myra Nessus (Moira ab Liam Mac Nessus) - Winter Lady, Sidhe crown princess. Middle daughter of the queen. Jack’s wife. Trina’s long-time lover.
● Megan Nessus (Meaghan ab Liam Mac Nessus) - youngest daughter of the queen. Jack’s lawyer.
● Morgan Nessus (Morganna ab Liam Mac Nessus) - eldest daughter of the queen. Insane
■ House Laughlin (Mac Laughlin)
● Trina (Katrina ab Koran Mac Laughlin) - Myra’s lover, bodyguard, and driver. Jack’s concubine. ‘Queen of the Seraglio’
● Lorraine Laughlin - Trina’s mom.
● Liesl - one of Myra’s Ravens
● Peg - Brownie who adopted Trina’s family. Former lover of the last Green Lord, Yornian, and his Elven concubine, Alora.
■ Cholley - old goblin mechanic for Winter Court. Currently stationed in Sedona.
■ Lorn - Sidhe knight. Currently guard in Sedona compound
■ The Ravens
● Corrina - Captain of Myra’s Raven detail. Tall, athletic build. Straight black hair and a crooked smile. House Schatten.
● Selene - Raven. Sidhe. Not on the security detail in Cottonwood. House Schatten.
● Daphne - Raven. Blue-black hair cropped short to jaw line. On Myra’s detail. House Schatten.
● Marisol (Mari) - Raven. Not on the security detail in Cottonwood. On Myra’s detail. House Schatten.
● Geraldine (Geri) - Raven. Sidhe. 5’3” curvy with pale creamy skin and auburn hair and emerald green eyes. On Myra’s detail. House Nebel.
● Charlotte (Charli) - Raven. Curly mousy blond hair. Gifted singer with great ear for harmony. On Myra’s detail. House Scáth
● Liesl - Raven. Sidhe. Tall blond. On Myra’s detail. House Laughlin
● Solange - Head of Megan’s security detail. House Tailiwin.
● Sowei - Megan’s security detail. House Tailiwin.
■ Christoff - Myra’s PA
■ Jason - Shadow. Sidhe Dark-skinned with buzzed curly hair. Currently stationed in Sedona. Brother to Sowie. House Tailiwin.
■ Trevor - Shadow. Sidhe. Light-skinned with short-cropped brown hair. Currently stationed in Sedona. House Scáth
■ Saureg - King of Goblins
○ Historical Figures
■ Yornian - last Green Lord from 4,000 years ago
■ Alora - Yornian’s chief concubine and Peg’s lover. High-elf
○ Apparently human
■ Eileen Pennyworth - Jack’s ex-fiancé. Antiterrorism operative and assassin. Inactive since breakup with Jack. Born Eileen Brock.
■ Lowell Pennyworth - Eileen’s former control. Married Eileen after her breakup with Jack.
■ Erica - Flight attendant,
■ Gerald Charles Fremont III (GC) - Dickhead on flight accosting Myra. A.K.A. ‘Mr. Wonderful’
■ Greg - human mechanic in Phoenix
■ Kory Calhoun (KC) - Real estate agent in Cottonwood
■ Calliope Georgeopoulos (Callie) - Real estate agent in Cottonwood, KC’s tormentor / love interest.
■ Yuri Kolenko - Ukrainian hacker that is part of the Russia’s Digital Attacks black-ops unit.
■ Kellianne - Server at the Red Rooster
■ Johnny - Cook at the Red Rooster
■ Verdic Holdings - Tom Peterson, VP COO, Gretchen Peterson, Secretary
● Greenleaf Farms & Vinyards - Kristina Unterberg VP COO
● Green Field Capital Management - Megan Nessus, VP COO
● Verdant Security Services - Katrina Laughlin, VP COO
■ Data Bridge
● Emily Paxton - employee in Toronto working with Royal Canadian Indemnity. Expert on the unix/linux system
● Marlene Kolchak - Jack’s married employee in Chicago that likes to cheat on her husband
● Pam Madison - employee in Kansas City. Server-based admin. Backs up on the unix/linux system
■ Insurance Ecosystems - Don Kerrigan, CEO. Investment for Green Field
■ Royal Canadian Indemnity
● Max Chartres - VP IT Operations
■ Hartford Comprehensive Insurance or HCI
● Mr. Owen Randall - HCI Business executive of Underwriting Inland Marine
● Ms. Erin Harper - HCI Business executive Operations
● Reddy Shivkumar - HCI, IT Applications Exec
● Supreet Mishra - HCI, PA to Mr. Shivkumar.<
br />
○ Dwarves
■ Merrill Bergarbiter - patriarch of the ‘Miner Clan’ of dwarves
■ Amelia Bergarbiter - Wife of Merrill, seeress (has ‘knowings’)
■ Kristina Unterberg - Assistant Manager at the Burning Tree. Niece of Amelia and Merrill
■ Annette Miner - Kristina’s niece
○ High Elves
■ L’ric - head of the Cherry community
■ O’ren - retired Loremaster
■ Jo’ry and E’lian - Loremasters in training with O’ren
■ Tr’niel - retired Weapons Master. Former slave to the Winter Court. Trained Trina before his escape from the Sidhe
■ L’liana - elven psychic and magician.
Afterword
Hello reader. I hope you enjoyed the experience of this, my first book. I would value your feedback. Amazon is driven by reviews, so please leave one - especially if you liked it! Also, Amazon won’t tell you when my next book lands. The best way to find out is to follow me on Amazon or Facebook.
My goal in writing this book was to get the story out of my head, and...well...have fun! I have had fun writing the book, and the story has taken on a life of its own. I remember a couple of authors saying they don’t know what their characters will do until they do it. I always had trouble believing that until I started writing this story.
This story has been running around in my brain for some time. Jack and Myra meeting on a plane was the first bit that arrived. They played around in my brain for a while until eventually the idea of Myra being Fae landed, and I finally decided to write the story.
I was just starting to have the idea of the Green Lord and working through the first chapters when I saw Fred Rogers on a documentary spot on PBS. During the documentary they played a video of him saying the quote at the beginning of the book. It resonated deeply. That film clip inspired me to make love the superpower of the Green Lord. As a late-middle-age adolescent, I frequently look back on that choice and shake my head. That was really the first step towards shaping the personality of my namesake as the main character. Pulling the Ravens into the family was a natural extension of the superpower concept. ‘Powers of creation’ are as well...at least within my little pea-brain.
As you can tell I have a real love affair with Arizona. Many of the places I mentioned are places I frequent or are high on my ‘still to visit’ list. Many, but not all of the restaurants, towns, etc. all exist. I have tried to be true in my descriptions of them, and readily admit to googling pictures to ensure they were as accurate as possible.
Unfortunately, all the people are figments of my imagination - now you know just how demented I am. Any resemblance to real persons is purely coincidental. I did take some liberties by making Sedona Schnebly a Sidhe. To the best of my knowledge she wasn’t really Sidhe; although, I found a photo of her online in which her eyes look like they are filled with a supernatural power. I hope she doesn’t mind wherever she is.
As this is my first book, my style is still developing. The second book is about one-third complete, and I expect this story will run to four books given the size of this book. I have wizardry and space adventure stories in the queue, too.
I owe a lot to all of the sci-fi and fantasy authors I’ve read over the last 15 years. I’m a voracious reader, and only break from regular reading when work projects, music projects, or writing absorb my focus. I have William E. Brown, Daniel Schinhofen, William D. Arand (AKA Randi Darren), Michael-Scott Earle, Jan Stryvant (AKA John Van Stry), Eden Redd, Marilyn Foxworthy, M Tefler, and Laurell K. Hamilton to thank for their plethora of wonderful harem / reverse-harem stories. They demonstrated to me how good fantasy and sci-fi stories can have sexy, or even smutty scenes, and unusual loving relationships all while still being a great story about real emotions with lots of action.
Ms. Hamilton also gets thanks with James Butcher, Emma Bull, and Kim Harrison for sharing their individual perspectives on faerie. I tried to pay homage to them within the book. Hopefully it came across as sincere. I didn’t follow any of them, but my melange made for a story that I enjoyed writing. I mixed a little of this, and a little of that, with twists on folklore here and there. I’ll eventually put my list of references up on the web somewhere.
A couple of other authors have influenced my ideas about writing. I love how P.S. Power mixes the fantastic with the everyday and makes it feel real. The sci-fi of Laurence Dahners uses a “what would happen if X were true” approach. After seeing that clip from Fred Rogers, it led me to ask the question of “what would happen if love was a superpower.” I think that will lead to some interesting twists in future fight scenes for Jack.
If you’re not familiar with these authors, I recommend them to you. I may create reference links in the future. I also recommend Eric Vall, Maxx Whittaker, Skylar Grace, Logan Jacobs, and Daniel Pierce...there are so many good authors. Hopefully I’ll work my way up to that level. In the meantime I appreciate your support and feedback.
I have done the Facebook and Patreon thing, but I’m still building the discipline to put them to good use and break the code on how best to deliver value for the premium on Patreon. I will eventually be posting draft chapters, short stories, etc. as premium content.
‘Til next time.
-JG Jerome
https://www.facebook.com/JGJeromeAuthor
https://www.patreon.com/jgjerome
About the Author
JG Jerome, like his namesake main character, is a Kansas farm boy, old soldier, and ‘IT Guy.’ He lives, works, makes music, and writes in Arizona with his wife Heather. He dabbles in martial arts, fitness training, cooking, bread baking, photography, drawing, singing, and playing multiple musical instruments.