31 Days of Autumn (21 page)

I ran a hand through my hair and looked out of
the window. Part of me still felt unworthy of the love I had in my life now.
Sometimes it was still hard to hear compliments after my past. Andy caught my
eye from his position outside and tapped his watch, so I nodded. Jenny
immediately stood up from her seat by the door. I had a great team. Even though
I’d downplayed my concerns to Ellie over lunch, I had every faith that they’d
make sure my family was ok. They had to. If I lost any of them, it was likely
that wall around my heart would be rebuilt so thick and so high that there
would be no chance of it ever being seen again.

We got to the school gates a few minutes early,
as did all of the other parents by the looks of it. The noise as the double
doors were opened and the teaching assistants led the excited chattering children
out was deafening. With the advantage of my height, I spotted Oliver straight
away.

‘I can’t see him, where is he?’ Ellie asked, a
tinge of nerves in her voice.

‘He’s coming and you can relax, he looks happy.
No tears.’

‘Him or me? I feel like I’m about to cry again,
I’m so emotional today.’

‘You’re always emotional and I love that you
wear your heart on your sleeve,’ I advised, kissing the top of her head.

‘Daddy,’ Oliver yelled, breaking into a run
when he spotted me. I let go of Ellie’s hand and crouched down, hoisting him up
into a hug as he ran into my arms.

‘Hey, big boy. We’ve missed you.’ I kissed his
cheek and he leaned over to hug Ellie and kiss her, too.

‘Mummy, can I come tomorrow?’ he asked,
settling any of my nerves that we’d have trouble tempting him back.

‘Only if you tell me all about it and the
friends you’ve made,’ Ellie replied, smiling over at me, relief all over her
face. I laughed as I carried him back to the car, holding Ellie’s hand, while
he jabbered away ten to the dozen. I really had missed him today, Jonas and Eva,
too. Much as I wanted sex, much as I always wanted sex, the thought of sitting
with Ellie and the three of them was top of my agenda right now. Even work
could wait.

Tuesday 8
^th
September

Damien
Daniels

I cricked my neck and looked down at my dark grey three-piece
suit. I’d teamed it with a white shirt, black tie, and grey and black trilby. I
looked hot and that was exactly what was needed to pull out all of the stops to
get Jess to agree to this. I checked my top jacket pocket to make sure that I
had the memory stick to hand and blew out a deep breath. It was hard to
believe, after so long waiting, preparing, that I was close to the culmination
of so many months work. I headed towards the entrance of Davenport
Technologies, keeping my head down, pretending to check my phone as I
approached the security guards. I was taking a serious risk today. We were
aware that they’d implemented the facial recognition software, and given our
history, it was likely the guards would have been provided with a snapshot of
my face. I made it inside with no problems. He might be alert when it came to
his own protection, and that of his family, but he’d seriously slacked off when
it came to protecting his business premises when he wasn’t in. Which was to my
advantage. Then again, the main bulk of security measures were to prevent
access to the lifts and upper floors. Given I only needed to go as far as reception,
it made my life a hell of a lot easier. Regardless, I clicked the scrambler in
my pocket to distort the camera feeds, just in case.

‘Damien,’ Jess gasped, quickly straightening up
and smoothing her hair. ‘I didn’t expect to see you today. You said you were
busy until next week.’

‘I couldn’t go a whole week without seeing you,
honey,’ I lied. ‘I’ve come to take you out to lunch.’

‘We’re going out to eat?’

‘Each other,’ I winked, leaning on the granite
reception countertop and fixing her with my best smouldering stare. She giggled
and a hand flew to her chest.

‘I never refuse a nooner, especially not with
you. Let me just check Diane is ok to cover and I’m all yours in about five
minutes. Why don’t you have a seat while you wait?’

‘I’ll wait in the car with the engine running.
I don’t want to waste any time getting you to The Dalton hotel, do I?’ I
advised. I needed to be out of here as soon as possible.

‘Ok,’ she grinned. ‘See you outside.’

‘Actually, there’s one thing you could do for
me first,’ I suggested. This was it, everything hinged on her now.

‘Anything for you, baby,’ she nodded, leaning
forward and giving me a glimpse down her shirt at her lace-clad tits. My cock
stirred in my trousers. I hadn’t had sex in four bloody days, I was going into
withdrawal. ‘Especially when you’re looking so hot today.’

‘I have some photos that I captured the other
night, of us with that redhead, Chelsea. Can you print them off?’ I asked,
slipping the flash drive towards her. She sat back up quickly, her face
changing in an instant.

‘Damien, you know I can’t. It’s one of the
strictest rules here, nothing can be plugged into the system unless it’s been
checked by the IT team for viruses first. And I’m not having them see pictures
of me naked, in a ménage with you and Chelsea, thank you very much.’

‘Come on, Jess. It’s just a few pictures and
it’s me. I’m a fucking consultant, what bloody damage could I cause the main
frame?’

‘You have no idea how many people try and hack
into our servers on a daily basis,’ she replied, shaking her head. ‘We have
some serious technology here that people would love to steal. I can’t do it.
Print them at your office.’

‘We don’t even have USB ports in our computers,
that’s how seriously they take security. Come on Jess, it will take a minute,
max. Who’ll know? I promise to make it up to you.’

‘Damien,’ she groaned, looking over both of her
shoulders. She was close to breaking, she just needed an extra push. I could
afford to bring out the big guns now. After today, I’d never have to see her
again, so I wouldn’t have to put up with her incessant nagging about it.

‘Do this for us. I finally got the passcode for
the 710 club. We could go tonight, before I head off to Scotland to see my
clients. I know how much you want to try it out,’ I coaxed. The 710 club was
the most exclusive sex club in London, possibly the UK itself. I’d frequented
it regularly when I lived in England, before I lost all my fucking money and my
membership was revoked. Pretty much anything went there, and after experiencing
a ménage, Jess was desperate to try group with an audience.

‘You’d really take me there?’ she whispered,
her eyes lighting up.

‘Cross my heart, honey,’ I lied. If I had one
talent, other than my ability to do my job and earn shit loads of money, lying
was my other.

‘Give it here. I’ll bloody kill you if I lose
my job over this,’ she uttered, putting out her palm. I grinned and handed her the
flash drive. I didn’t give a shit that she was likely to lose her job. Hidden
on the drive was a virus that would lay dormant on their server for twenty-four
hours, before it would eat its way through their firewall like acid. By
Thursday night, they’d need their top guys on hand to try and stem it from
spreading. And one of their top guys was none other than Oliver Davenport. He’d
need to be at the main server point in San Francisco if he had any chance of
stopping its progress.

If he was in America, his main, and seriously
intimidating, bodyguard would be as well, so that was two less of them for us
to deal with. If history showed anything, it was that when Ellie was in London,
she was accompanied by Jenny and James. No matter how skilled they were, they
each had one crucial thing against them. Age or gender. Against a team of four
skilled combatants, they didn’t stand a fucking chance. I held my breath as I
watched her remove the cap. My entire retirement plan hinged on her inserting
that drive. If she didn’t, we’d still proceed, but it might mean we’d have Andy
and Dan to deal with as well. She hesitated as she hovered it over the port.

‘Looking at those pictures is going to get me
so hard for later, Jess,’ I whispered. ‘I’d love to see other men and women pleasuring
you, filling all of your holes before I fuck you raw.’

‘You’re one dirty bastard,’ she giggled,
ramming the drive into her computer. ‘And I love it.’

‘I … I think I love you, Jess,’ I uttered,
almost sincerely. I loved what she’d just done for me.

‘Damien,’ she moaned, her eyes filling with
tears. ‘I love you, too. I’ve wanted to say it for so long.’

‘Honey, I’m so going to rock your world
tonight,’ I grinned as the photos started coming off on her personal printer.
There were enough on there to give the virus time to download. I turned my head
as someone approached reception and messed around with my phone again as Jess
signed them in and directed them to the security turnstiles.

‘Here, don’t say that I never do anything for
you,’ she advised, shoving the drive and the printouts over to me.

‘Jesus, I might run out of sperm before tonight
if I spend the afternoon looking at these,’ I nodded, sincere for once as I
flicked through the shots taken on my state-of-the-art surveillance camera that
I’d put on timer. Hot as these shots were, I was bored of Jess already and it
wasn’t like I had to commit to anyone. With the money I was going to have at my
disposal, women would be fighting over me, or I could just pay for whoever I
wanted from an escort agency to be brought to me. It was a heady feeling.

‘Don’t you dare. See you in a few,’ she
grinned.

‘Yeah, see you, honey.’ I gave her a wink and
strode out without looking back. I tossed the photos in the dustbin outside of
the entrance and quickly made my way to my car, started the engine, and sped
off. Stupid bitch, she had no idea how helpful she’d been over the last two years.
I tossed my hat onto the passenger seat and checked my watch. I had a flight to
catch in a few hours. One last meeting tomorrow with the Ospreys to get a payout
that most people would be happy to retire on. I wasn’t most people though. The
only disadvantage was that they were taking a bloody spa break in none other
than the Davenports’ hotel at Loch Airdrie. I’d done my best to try and arrange
the meeting somewhere else, but they’d insisted “it was the best afternoon tea
in Scotland.” I mean, for fuck’s sake. What were the chances? It wasn’t like
the Davenports went there often, certainly not in the public restaurant anyway.
They always booked the cabin by the loch or the Tower restaurant, so the
chances of being seen were minimal. It was a risk all the same. But fuck it.
What was life without a few risks? And so what if I was seen now? There was
nothing they could do, they had no inkling of what was about to happen. They
couldn’t even stop it now if they tried.

Less than a week. Months and months of patience
and hard work and it would all be over in less than seven days. I couldn’t
fucking wait.