Blood and Steel

Check the note at the end of the chapter

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The huge blast furnaces of the Smith Industries Steel Mill could be seen from almost anywhere in Azure Rocks. Aside from the fact that the furnaces pierced high into the otherwise pristine blue sky, towers of smoke rose out blenching smog even higher, a constant reminder to anyone looking of the industry that birthed Azure Rocks. Thankfully, the steel plant wasn’t located within the bounds of the town itself, saving the residents from breathing in the heavy fumes, but rather lay between the town and the Silver Lake Mountains, close to the mines which had once been its source of raw iron. The creation of the national park had put an end to that, and now the Smiths had to draw their ore from elsewhere.

Even that wasn’t enough for some people. As she drove along the long road out of Azure Rocks towards the mill, she saw posters nailed to roadside pillars calling for the closure of the factory, and others simply protesting the pollution. It was unlikely to happen though. Both the mayor and the governor supported the ongoing business of the plant, because it both contributed to the economy of Azure Rocks and to its citizen’s employment. How long that support would continue, what with growing concerns over pollution and environmentalism gaining mainstream attraction, Brooke didn’t know.

Part of her wished that she could have met the Smith Industries CEO, Arthur Smith himself, at the Smith Manor, a renovated cabin on the other side of the lake, but for all matters professional and relating to business, she was directed to the mill. It was noisy and it was dirty and if she’d known she was coming here she would have worn more appropriate footwear. She announced her presence at the kiosk and was allowed entry through the barrier gate. A man in his thirties, wearing a hard hat and a high visibility jacket, came out to meet her and presented her with a visitor’s badge before requesting that she follow him to the boss’s office.

Agreeing, she complied and allowed him to lead her into the building and up four steel walkways towards an elevated box of a room situated right at the top, right in the center with windows on every wall. It was cleaner inside than she imagined. Seeing her surprise, her guided explained that the mill was separated into two parts. The warehouse and the plant itself where ore was converted into iron, cast into steel and rolled into shape. The part they were walking through was the warehouse, but the room at the top actually straddled the wall between both parts of the building, allowing the boss to overlook every part of the process.

The man knocked on the door for her and opened it when a voice on the other side invited her in. Inside the steel and tin box of a room, behind a large, simple desk Arthur Smith, scouring over some copies of spreadsheets, the kind of thing any normal person would do on a computer nowadays. There was a computer on the desk, an old off-white square thing that looked like it had been lifted straight out of the 80’s, connected by cable to a similarly ancient looking copy machine.

The man himself looked up when she walked in, the same grumpy expression he always wore. It was little wonder that it was his wife that did all the public events for the company. Without getting up to greet her, he frowned his eyes and gestured for her to sit in the hard chair on the opposite side of the table.

“Thank you for meeting with me, Arthur,” Brooke said pleasantly. “No, Helena today? Or is she attending the Woman’s vote meeting downtown?

“You heard about that? Well, of course you would I suppose, but no, she’s having a sit down with some of those environmentalists, trying to stop them from spreading their lies for one goddamn day,” he grumbled as he tossed his pen harshly onto the desk on top of the papers he’d just been reading. “I’m not hopeful.”

“Robert has dealt with his fair share of protesters as well. We both know they mostly blow hard, but in the end, employment, housing and development are more important than the environment,” Brooke tried to encourage him. “Everyone needs steel.”

“Of course, but half the people don’t realize that this town was built on steel. The history is being rewritten to make us seem like the bad guys who came in and destroyed the mountain by carving the mines, or, at best, inconsequential,” Arthur agreed, while he shook his head at the imagined protesters. “If it wasn’t for the guidance and metalwork of my ancestors, no one would have ever come here. This town was built with Wynwick lumber and Smith nails.”

“Then, can I assume that you’ll be glad of some business?” Brooke offered her prettiest smile.

“I already have plenty of business, so don’t think that I’m **** for any job you might throw my way. Smith Industries still supplies steel to the entire state.” He scowled, hating to see his family name go underestimated. “But I’ll bite, since you called such an urgent meeting, what’s this all about?”

“Well, I should tell you that I’m not here on behalf of Ravers Enterprises.”

“No, I didn’t think that you were,” Arthur finally smiled, a wide, smug grin, delighting in being able to surprise the foxy brunette. “Miles Zurbrugg was just on the news announcing that Robert Ravers has been ejected from his own company. Something about a vote of no confidence and not trusting his judgement anymore. Let me guess, you followed him out the door?”

“Y-yes, but I’m not the only one,” Brooke stammered, a little shaken. The announcement of Robert’s departure from the company wasn’t a huge revelation. Ravers Enterprises were bound to announce it at some point. It didn’t mean that they knew Daniel was a double agent or about the creation of the new company. “We’re forming a new company and we already have a project in mind. The old Amusement Park in town, we’re going to renovate it, and that means we need steel.”

“Steel I can provide,” Arthur said, leaning back in his chair, still grinning, as he rested his hands upon his stomach. “For a price.”

“We were hoping that agreement between yourself and Robert could continue,” she said coolly, treating the proud man with a delicate touch. “The one where we agree to buy in steel exclusively from you, and you provide a considerable discount.”

“That might have worked when Robert was CEO of the biggest development business in town, and could throw money at several projects a year. He might still be rich, but as a new company, that number will be significantly reduced to…what would you say? One? Two?” Without waiting for an answer, Arthur continued, “And I just got done explaining that I don’t need your business. Such a pittance won’t even make a dent in my overhead.”

“You want hard truths, Arthur? Here they are, you’re in a dying business, clinging on to an old world. Factories are shutting down all over the country, and recycled scrap is cutting in to your margins as much as Chinese steel,” she saw him glance down at the spreadsheets on the table and added, “I don’t need to see the numbers to know it’s true. It’s happening all over, and tariffs on imported steel just isn’t helping the way you hoped it would. And moreover, I know that this has been happening for decades. Right after the Second World War when steel was booming for everyone else, the Wynwicks shut up shop on their mines and gave the whole land over to the national park, leaving you out in the cold,” she leaned forward, her eyes shining as she said things no man would get away with saying to the great Arthur Smith. “Having ore trucked in, using those old-fashioned furnaces…can you really afford to say ‘no’ to easy money?”

Arthur stared hard at her for a long minute. It was a dangerous tactic. Too rough, or too personal, and he might have told her to get the fuck out of his office and never return. Too soft and he’d laugh it off. It needed to be just right, to strike right at the insecurities of Arthur’s staunch traditionalism and make him think twice about what kind of image he was projecting. An Amusement Park built with good old Azure Rocks steel, providing happy, fun memories for families, now that would be a positive image for the company.

“You’ve got balls on you, Brooke, I’ll give you that.” he said finally. “If I’m in the shit as bad as you say I am, what makes you think I have the profit margins to make up the difference if I’m giving you steel at a discounted price?”

Brooke shrugged, though she inwardly smiled. She had him. All she had to do now was dangle a little bit of bait, and lure him in. Massage his ego, and let him think he was actually coming out of this deal ahead. “Perhaps we can come to some kind of compromise on how significant the discount is. So long as we have an agreement that you will provide the steel, we can agree on the price later.”

“Alright, you’ve got a deal,” he grunted as he stood and reluctantly stretched out his hand. “What’s the name of this new company anyway?”

“The Ravers-Bishop Corporation,” she said, beaming as she rose too and reached out to shake on the agreement.

But his hand snapped away lightning fast, nostrils flaring, almost foaming at the mouth, like a rabid dog. It came on so suddenly, it scared Brooke and she took several steps back, thankful that the table was still between them.

“Bishop,” he spat the words out like a curse.

“What’s your problem with Zack Bishop?” Brooke asked, her brow furrowing in confusion.

“His whore of a mother might have married that rich doctor family, but I still know her as Campbell,” he explained, his face turning a furious shade of purpleish red. “That hack detective father of hers tried to suggest that it was faulty material from Smith Industries that caused that accident at Ravers Enterprises, when everyone knew it was those shady workmen Robert’s father hired.”

“C-come now, you’re not going to let a grudge from the past affect the present,” Brooke tried to ply him with charm, to bring the deal back on track. “You can’t punish Zack for the actions of his grandfather.”

“That Campbell bastard did more to hurt the image of Smith Industries with that one accusation than anyone else in this town has ever done. The day I do business with the blood of a Campbell will be my last on this Earth, because it’ll only ever happen over my dead body.” He pointed to the door. “Get out.”

With a shake of her head, she snorted and stormed out of the room, seeing that there was clearly no way to reason with him. She descended the stairs as she tore into him in her mind, calling him childish, foolish, immature, short-sighted, short-tempered, headstrong and completely irrational. Worse, she had no idea how she was going to explain this to Zack. The young man would likely be devastated to learn, through no fault of his own, he had cost them a deal with the main metal supplier in town.

She banged the door on her way out, not even caring as she began to cross the parking lot to her car. It did draw the attention of one man, however, a twenty-three year old, almost the spitting image of his father, his hair a little lighter, his eyes more hazel than brown and wearing twenty-five years less weight around his waist. Seeing her strop, he ran over and stopped her, tugging on her arm.

“Ms. Lakefield? Hey, what’s going on?” She stopped and turned to face him, allowing him to see her disgruntled expression. “What happened?”

“Your father is what happened,” Brooke growled, speaking without thinking. “Stubborn sack of shit.”

“Sounds like dad,” Julian laughed, as he looked around the yard. “Come on, come with me and let’s talk about it.”

Talking was really the last thing she wanted to do, preferring to curse or kick at this moment in time, but she went with him anyway. She followed him to a small tin trailer, plainly decorated inside with nothing more than a square metal table and two plastic chairs. On the table was a pitcher of water and a stack of Styrofoam cups, one of which Julian lifted and filled with water, passing it on to the MILF as she took a seat.

“Thank you.”

“So, what happened?” Julian asked directly.

“Your pig-headed father, in his infinite wisdom has decided that a grudge, dating back decades, is more important to him than money,” she explained, sweeping her long hair out of her face, the brief walk outside having messed it up.

“Grudge? Oh, you’re talking about the Campbell thing,” Julian laughed lightly. “Yes, he’s mentioned that once or twice to all of us as well. If we ever work with a Campbell, we’re dead to him. He’s even said that to Pietra. You have to understand what Ezequiel Campbell did. He didn’t just accuse us of shoddy workmanship, he insulted the very steel that Smith Industries makes. The steel that has been the life source and pride of our family for generations. My grandfather always said that a Smith man should be strong, durable, unyielding and obdurate, just like the steel we make. So, when Ezequiel implied that our steel might have caused that accident, he wasn’t just insulting our product, he was casting aspersions upon the Smith family name.”

“I’m not here to argue what Zack’s grandfather did or didn’t do, only that Zack, shouldn’t be turned away because of it,” Brooke said, calming down and speaking rationally again. Feelings were unlikely to win the day here. Their pride was not going to be moved by sentimentality, so she reasoned with him, hoping that if she could get the son to come around, the father would follow. “Or that the rest of us should be punished for just associating with him. If your father had a heart attack and needed a bypass, would you refuse to be treated by Gregory Bishop who married a Campbell?”

“From what I hear, Gregory’s wife has been much more friendly with the Ravers than the Bishops. I don’t think my father would have any problem being treated by the man who divorced the Campbell woman,” Julian noted with a knowing smile.

“Divorce?” That was a new one to Brooke. “What have you heard?”

“Rumors abound in a small town. It only takes one person to see Gregory going to visit his lawyer for everyone to draw the same conclusion,” Julian confessed to having no hard proof. “But it makes sense doesn’t it? Would you expect him to stick with a woman who slept with another man, had his child, and lied about it for eighteen years?”

“It’s not a surprise, it’s just…” Her voice trailed off, as her mind pondered whether Zack knew. If he’d really confronted his father today, then he would have all the facts. Looking back at Julian, Brook brought the conversation back on topic. “What Gregory does is none of my concern really. I’m trying to build a new company, and for that, we need steel.”

“And, just how **** are you for steel?” Julian stepped towards her, baring a fiendish smirk.

“Not as **** as your father thinks,” she said, ignoring the young man’s approach. “We can buy it in from out of town but that costs us more and eats into our budget, and your father loses out on local business while an outside steel company pushes into his territory. This deal is of mutual benefit to both of us.”

“I think the problem is that you don’t recognize how remarkable our product is over our competitors.” He stopped in front of her, looming over as his hand dropped to the crotch of his trousers and began to tug down on his zipper. “I’ve got a prime sample of some quality, original Smith Steel right here. If you were to show it a little appreciation, perhaps I could convince my dad that you understand exactly the worth of the Smith name.”

Brooke straightened up immediately, eyes widening as she was presented with the hard, young cock of the Smith Industries successor. She pushed her chair back against the tin wall of the trailer, suddenly realizing just how small of a space it was. But Julian wasn’t forcing himself upon her. He simply stood, watching her with an interested expression while his hand, fingers wrapped around his thick shaft, pumped idly at his cock, waiting for her response.

“A-are you being serious right now?” Brooke asked, keeping her anger in check for now. “You’re eliciting me for sex?”

“Not at all. You’re free to go, if you want, but maybe I can help you. You don’t understand my father’s pride, you aren’t a Smith. I am, so I can speak to his ego in a way that you can’t,” Julian said, just as calmly, all the while stroking his length in the MILF’s direction. “For me to do that though, what I’m saying is that I need a show of good faith, something that demonstrates that you understand the true value of Smith Steel.”

Her face felt flush, a heat that then resonated throughout her entire body as she actually considered what he was suggesting. Despite his words, he was certainly requesting sexual favors in return for his cooperation. But he wasn’t demanding anything either. Just as he said, she could get up and walk away. There was a clear space between them, a path that led straight to the trailer door. So, then, why was she actually considering this?

She wasn’t even that horny. Klaus and Andrew had seen to that. And the thought of Heather with her own father had put a damper on her libido for now. She also highly doubted that Julian’s motives were as pure as Andrew’s had been. Yet as abhorrent as her initial reaction had been, as exploitative as it seemed, it wasn’t really any different than how business was done every day. One party had something the other side wanted, and the other side negotiated something to sweeten the deal. The sweetener in this case just happened to be letting this thick, young cock do what it wanted with her trim, toned forty year old body.

“You’re positive that you can convince your father?” she clarified.

His smile widened and his cock throbbed visibly in his hand.

“Absolutely,” he lied.

Below is the schedule for chapters that I've worked out for the next two weeks:

Weds 27th - The Joker Saves the Day/ Blood and Steel

Thur 28th

Fri 29th - A Second Savior

Sat 30th

Sun 1st - The Dirty Double Cross

Mon 2nd - In the Den of the Wolves

Tues 3rd

Weds 4th - Bad Reputation, Good Reputation

Thur 5th

Fri 6th - The Leader of the Pack

Sat 7th

Sun 8th - Daniel and the Dirty Pair

Mon 9th - An Unpaid Debt

Tues 10th

Weds 11th - Who Controls the Past Controls the Future

The reason for this is that after the 11th, I'll be busy with work for about a week and then, by that point, Christmas will be upon us. I'll need to take a few weeks for that like I did last year and won't be back fully until the New Year. So, I wanted to let everyone know what they can expect in the near future before that happens.