Tom took a deep breath and looked me in the eye.
“That’s a good question. I don’t really have a good answer for that.”
At least he was being honest with me. I would have to answer some questions for myself. Did I trust Tom to look out for my best interest? I think the best answer was ‘yes,’ as long as my interest didn’t conflict with those of his family. If Tom could put his family above my interests, what else was more important to him? Would he put his business interest ahead of mine? I just didn’t know.
The second big question I needed to answer was whether I wanted to work with Tom’s firm or not. I’d been thinking about that a lot. I felt better when they hadn’t just thrown me under the bus when Ford was pushing me to go full-time. My biggest problem was my age. I needed someone to sign contracts and be a chaperone. Heck, I couldn’t even rent a car.
An additional problem involved the other people I brought in. I started ticking off the people I’d recruited to their firm. There were the models from Ford: Ava, Allie and Lindsey. Then there were my friends Kara and Eve. There was also the alliance with Ford Models and the deals with Mrs. Hill, Mrs. Wesleyan and the Internet resellers. It wasn’t just the money I was making, but if I left, I would surely tell the people I recruited why. Finally, if my people left, what would it do to Tom’s business? They were in start-up mode, but it wouldn’t look good to have all their talent leave. That’s assuming a lot, but I needed to consider it.
I did what I always do when I wasn’t sure of something: I decided to wait and see. It didn’t mean that I was going to continue to be a pushover, though.
“Tom, I think we need to decide something. Are we going to be in business together or just friends? I’m not saying we can’t be friendly, but it’s apparent that we can’t be both.”
He nodded slowly.
“I’m sorry it came to this.”
“Me too,” I said, and got up.
We shook hands. It looked like we would be doing business, but the friendship side of our relationship would be lessened. I didn’t feel any better about anything that had happened. What I did come away with was a better understanding of why he did what he did. Something else that became clear was Deb Thomas’s role in all of this. She plainly was focused on making money for Ford. I would have to be on guard with her and make sure to look out for myself.
As I walked out of the office, I was somewhat thankful Tom had played the ‘dad card.’ It made me see that Tracy and I would never be right for each other. If she couldn’t simply tell me what was on her mind, then I was better off without her. That was crystal clear.
I WENT HOME AND TOOK a long hot shower to loosen my muscles. When I was done, I wrapped a towel around my waist and sent texts to John and Tami to see if they were around. John sent me one back first so we jumped onto video chat. John must have been feeling his oats.
“How’s my favorite gay porn star?” he quipped.
Poor John, he knew better than to start something he couldn’t finish. I could see his family behind him in the kitchen. Alice had taken notice when he took his first shot.
“Jealousy does not become you,” I said.
He gave me a stern look and peeked over his shoulder to see if anyone was listening. I think he realized the error of his ways.
“Shhh, not so loud,” John hissed.
“Oh, John, you make me so hot,” I moaned, rubbing my nipples.
Mrs. Phillips burst out laughing and came into view.
“Hey, David, are you outing my son today?” she asked.
“Nope, I’m just pulling his chain. How were your holidays?” I asked her.
“Pretty good. We spent Christmas here and had family in. For New Year’s we went to the country club. Alice and John brought their dates. I think everyone had a good time.”
Alice having a boyfriend was news. Tami was now online and showed up in a window in the corner of the app. She had several girls with her. I joined them to the conversation.
“Oh, look! David’s naked again,” Tami said.
“I think that’s my cue to log off,” John decided.
He gave me a big smile as he disconnected.
I could tell Tami was feeling feisty, and I was in a mood to play along. I gave her a face.
“Tami, are you going to make me show my stuff to your friends again?” I whined.
Missy came bounding into the room.
“Yes, we want to see you naked.”
I now knew that they had a feed going in the lounge. I gave Tami an evil grin and she was shaking her head ‘no.’
“Sorry, Missy. Tami’s my mistress, and she says ‘no.’”
Several girls grabbed Tami and started tickling her. She was squealing and finally gave in.
“Okay, I’ll have him get naked. Just back off and let me work on him.”
I arched my eyebrows. ‘Work’ on me? I think it was time to turn the tables on her.
“Hey, before you have me show my stuff, I wanted to tell you that our theory really works.”
She gave me a questioning look, knowing she was probably not going to like this.
“Really, which theory was that?”
“The one about making boobs grow,” I said with a self-satisfied smile.
“Oh, that one. Great,” she said, trying to head me off and change the conversation.
“We’ve seen varying results based on application. But so far my research has shown positive results.”
I now had her intrigued. She regretted it as soon as she asked, “What are you applying?”
“Boy juice, of course. Our theory is that rubbing it on your boobs works well, but taken orally seems to really stimulate growth.”
She scoffed at me. The nerve of that girl.
“You’re saying that by giving you oral, it’ll make my boobs grow?”
“In the test sample, it seems to be working. I know how you’re a stickler for research. Maybe I could come up to Wesleyan and we find some volunteers to help us verify my findings?”
I don’t think Tami was buying it, but there seemed to be a few girls that were interested.
“And where would I find any girls interested in doing that?”
Missy hurried back into the room.
“Oh, pick me!”
Tami turned around and several girls had their hands up to be volunteers. I could see a field trip to Wesleyan in my near future. I got a serious look on my face.
“Are you sure, Missy? A rigorous measuring process requires a real hands-on approach. The breasts need to be stimulated properly to have the best benefit. Most of the testing procedure requires you to be at least partially nude. It can be quite embarrassing, but I try to be as slow and gentle as possible. For the best results, there may need to be multiple applications.”
I heard the girls moan. Tami had her head in her hands and was shaking it. Missy was beet red.
“Ah, we’ll have to talk about this offline,” Missy told me.
I just nodded. Tami kicked everyone out of her room, acting all pissed off. She pulled the cord out of her notebook and I heard complaints from the lounge as the link was disconnected. As soon as we were alone, she got a big grin on her face.
“You’re an evil genius. My popularity around here will go through the roof if I’m going to be the lead researcher in charge of selecting test subjects. Poor Missy isn’t sure if she should be aroused or scared of you. That girl has it bad.”
“Dear lord, I have it bad for her, too. I’d go to school at Wesleyan just to go out with her.”
“Slow down! We don’t need Mr. Happy doing your thinking for you. You’re already a ‘stupid boy.’ We don’t need you to be ‘brain-damaged boy.’”
“You’re no fun. I think Wesleyan would welcome me with open arms.”
“Until half the girls turned up pregnant.”
“Ouch, that one hurt!” I said. “Could you see the parents of those prep-school girls if their daughters came home pregnant? Teddy would string me up after the first call.”
“You’d be lucky if that was all that happened to you,” Tami informed me. She then gave me a wicked smile. “Do you really think my boobs are bigger?”