Trust Fall Ch 09
- 3 years ago
- 41
- 0
The next morning as we walked down to the pool I tried to take Monica aside to ask if she had taken precautions, but she clung to Ben the whole time, and he gazed down fondly on her, and there was no opportunity. The well-hung young man was at the pool again, and with easy affability Ben introduced himself and then introduced us all around -- his name was Jeff -- and then organized the four of us into a game of water polo, boys against girls. The young man fell against me repeatedly in his efforts to block my shots, and it became obvious he was trying to feel me up. This was new for me, and made me uneasy. But my bathing suit molded me beautifully, and after last night's escapades I decided to let him. Then there was no getting rid of him. In fact, with a glance toward me, Monica invited him to breakfast with us, and then to play golf with us, then tennis. As we dressed in our tennis outfits with their short, flirty skirts, she suggested I wear black panties fringed in French lace, not my proper tennis panties. So Jeff never took his eyes off my pretty bottom, and I beat him easily even though I was trying to play like an inexperienced girl, as girls do with boys they like. We spent the whole day together.
As we dressed for cocktails that night, Monica told me, "Ben and I are going out for drinks and dinner tonight. Just the two of us. We'll be back late. Jeff'll be here to pick you up in a few minutes. Do you know how to dance young people's dances these days? Have fun!"
That night, tired out from slow dancing, and dirty dancing, and hop dancing, I couldn't think how to turn Jeff off at the door, so he came into my room for a nightcap. He'd been wonderfully personable and attentive all through dinner, and at the dance he'd been lighthearted and increasingly affectionate, but always gentlemanly. He fixed drinks for the two of us, then sat down on the couch next to me, and we talked.
Then he stayed the night. He surprised me with a soft kiss full on the mouth, and I surprised myself by kissing him back. He began playing with my nipples and the little titties that seemed to be behind them, and I melted, and my mind roamed to the feel of Ben's cock inside me, and I wondered what Jeff's might feel like. He sensed my surrender. I was terrified he'd find out I wasn't a true woman when he reached into my crotch. But when he felt the Super-Max Pad I kept there to simulate a mound of Venus and cover my male equipment, he smiled.
"It's just as well," he said. "I don't have a condom with me anyhow. But if you don't mind, I can try to please you through your back door. Have you ever made love that way? Do you mind... ? Would you... ?" I kissed him even more deeply, and my hands stroked his thin, strong shoulders. I had my own Ben!
I didn't mind. I would. It was as if I had been mesmerized by this new kind of sex for me, being penetrated and entered and filled by someone firm, attentive, and considerate. Some time during the night Monica and Ben came home, and I half-woke to see that Monica was looking in on me. When the light from her room fell across my bed and revealed me sprawled across Jeff, our bed covers tangled on the floor and his long cock still in my hand, I heard her enter and pick up a blanket, then cover the two of us. Then I felt her kiss me softly on the cheek, and retreating, close the door behind her.
And so the weekend went. Jeff and I were together almost constantly, and he fucked and screwed and sucked and licked me as often as I did these things to him. I managed to speak to Monica briefly in the Women's Locker Room about the risk she ran of getting pregnant by Ben. But she was strangely unconcerned. "Do you think so? she said. "Well then. He just pumped another load into me in the Sauna, when I was sitting in his lap. He's inexhaustible, that man. You didn't notice? Here, suck it out of me."
And she leaned way back on a bench and spread her legs wide, and looked at me imperiously, waiting. So I dropped to my knees and leaned way in, and lapped and sucked and scrubbed her slit and her pussy with my tongue, as best I could. His cum still tasted like heavy sweet cream, I found as I cleaned her out, unlike Jeff's, which was also delicious but a little salty. She had a small orgasm, nothing like those wrenching cataclysms she and Ben shared, but she smiled gratefully at me.
"Feel better, now? Andrea, you can't follow me and Ben around like a puppy, or a human douche bag, waiting to slip your tongue into my pussy. The two of us fuck all the time. You'll just have to wait until we get home, and then I'll explain things to my husband. But he's not here, remember?"
I had no choice.
We wore every outfit we had bought for the weekend, and Sunday night as we gathered up our luggage to go home, Monica was amused that I was limping, walking a little spraddle-legged. I might have overdone it with Jeff, I was thinking to myself. But he'd been so sweet, I couldn't refuse him! And he felt so good in my mouth or my rear!
"Andrea dear," Monica said. "Try to walk a bit more respectably. You are the very image of a well-fucked woman. Ben's just gone off at a business meeting in Detroit now, but I hope he gave Jeff a handsome bonus before he left. Obviously he was worth every penny."
I was shocked! But also a little depressed! "Jeff was a prostitute? He did it for pay? Not for me, because he admired me?"
"Oh, my dearest Angela, he did admire you! He's one of the highest-paid male escorts in the business, and he takes on no clients that don't interest him. That first time we met him at the pool, he was looking you over. He told Ben later that he was willing to romance you for half his fee, and even to sleep with you for no fee at all. You have a delightfully sluttish innocence, he said, and certainly know how to enjoy a man who knows how to enjoy you. But he has to earn a living, so we paid him in full. He was worth every penny just to keep you busy while Ben and I played with each other round the clock, and also in furthering your education as to what it means to be a woman. How wonderful it can be. And doing it safely, without risk. Now we really can talk to each other about how different guys feel inside us, can't we?"
And Monica linked her arm into mine and laughed a voluptuous, knowing laugh. I felt even more uneasy. "Oh, c'mon," she said. "Didn't you have a perfectly scrumptious time?" I had to admit it.
When we got home, Monica suggested we have a long talk. "Andrea, now my beloved spouse returned to me," she said, "I have some things I need to tell you that you need to know. But we'll talk in a restaurant. In a public place, because I don't know if you'll be upset or not when you hear them."
She took one long look at my face, and then broke out, "Oh, my dear, my darling, my lovely pet, please don't look so sad. You look ready to dissolve! No, I'm not going to leave you! I'm never going to leave you! I love you! I need you! Now more than ever! You don't know how much! But when you hear what I have to say, maybe you'll want to leave me. I hope not. I'd feel desolated! Maybe even betrayed. But not by you. So we need to talk things over quietly!"
We said very little to each other as we drove to our favorite restaurant, the little Italian restaurant where we had first met, as it were, as girl friends, and I had first learned not to be afraid to show my femininity to the world. Again, it was crowded. Once the Maitre d' had seated us, and we had ordered drinks, I just looked mournfully at Monica and said nothing. This was her sell, and I didn't even know what kind of property she had in mind.
She took a deep breath and began. "First of all, I want to tell you again, I love you, and I don't ever want to lose you. No matter what. I'm not going to tell you everything now, just enough for now. More later when the time comes. I'm not hiding anything, but I do want you to come to the same conclusions I've reached, all on your own. And that means thinking things through a little at a time. I think I know what you want most from life, and from our marriage. But I'm not sure you know, yet. All right?"
I nodded.
"You saw that I've been having an affair with Ben. It hasn't been for too long. Maybe three or four months. He's been hitting on me for years, and I've been turning him down for years, but he's a man of enormous persuasive charm, and I confess it, one afternoon when the office had closed down, and I knew you were prancing around in your skirts and negligees and things at home, not too eager to see me home early, I thought I'd just try him out.
"Well, he overwhelmed me! Like a summer storm! Sudden down pouring fury, thunder, lightning, all of it! I couldn't get enough of that massive cock into me! It's very special, gentle yet thick enough to stretch anyone, and so insatiable, you know? Yes, you do know, now. I couldn't get enough of his ferocious energy into me either! All that vitality! You know that now too. Could you resist him? No, not even with all of your male conditioning to avoid sex with men. How could I, once he'd reached me."
"I'd gotten too used to you, I guess. You're gentle, and considerate, and sweet, and everything I've always wanted in a man. You're also everything I might want in a woman too, they're the same traits. I asked you to get that vasectomy, and you did, with no hesitation. Giving up for me your whole posterity! All of your wonderful potential as a parent! For me! Because I asked you to do it, and it was done, and you've never said a word to me about it since! You are a priceless marvel! I bet if I was to ask you to give up your manhood altogether, your balls, you'd do it. I've been thinking of asking, because they aren't doing anything for you now any more, and they're interfering with your womanhood in some ways. But all in good time."
Trust (Transvestite, Hetero sex, Spanking)This story contains elements of cross-dressing, a somewhat dominant female, and a rather submissive and effeminate male. If such things make you want to toss cookies, don't read it, eh?This story also contains one fairly graphic scene of eroticism between two consenting adults. If *that* squicks you, what the hell are you doing on this group? Grow up and get a life.Part 1: The File on LeeI was pretty tired when I got to Nancy's. Long day with the...
(Transvestite, Hetero sex, Spanking)The following story is a complete fantasy; the names do not correspond to anyone who exists in real life. It contains elements taken from my own experience, of course, but it didn't really happen, okay?This story contains elements of cross-dressing, a somewhat dominant female, and a rather submissive and effeminate male. If such things make you want to toss cookies, don't read it, eh?This story also contains one fairly graphic scene of eroticism between two...
Trust and the Heart R. Douglas Ezell Part One I knocked on Mark's door. After a moment, Mark opened it. "Hey Greg," he greeted, "I'm glad you came." "Thanks," I replied, "it's been a while since we just hung out." "Want a drink?" Mark asked. "Coffee, tea, soda?" "Tea sounds great," I said. "Coming right up," Mark said as he left for the kitchen. I took a seat in the guest chair. On the end table next to me I noticed a silver ring. I picked it up and looked it over. It...
Trust Fall Book One of The Trust Trilogy Tess Quince Chapter Ten I’VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT BEN Sheppard since I sealed my panties in that envelope. I thought of him as I met with Jack the appraiser at the bank. I held my legs close together even under the desk and crossed them carefully. Jack was flirty. He didn’t do or say anything inappropriate. He’s a sweet guy. It was all very innocent and low key. But I still felt a touch slutty sitting across from him without panties. He is cute. I...
When he closed his eyes, no matter how slight, he could see the movement of her dark, golden skin against the paleness of his own. He could feel it and that was torture. He craved her touch and the mercy that it offered. A good fight in the heart of battle had always brought him great pleasure, great glory. That was where he belonged. Now, she was the only true delight of his heart, a respite from this world’s cruelties. She was his afterlife because his world changed the moment he entered...
HistoricalBook One of The Trust Trilogy Tess Quince Epilogue IT’S SATURDAY AND I CHECK the mail. There’s a letter from Ben Sheppard. There’s no return address, but I know it’s from him. It’s postmarked from Milwaukee. It’s nice to see my name and address written out in that crisp script in his usual blue ink. It reads: ‘I had a meeting at a restaurant today. They had a TV on and the Brewers were playing the Reds. Seeing the Reds made me think of Cincinnati and when I think of Cincinnati I only think...
I'm sorry, but I have always been a little cynical and recent developments have only strengthened my cynicism. I am having a hard time trusting people now. Let me explain. We are the Kelly's, Raymond and Jackie. Our marriage was only six months old when we moved into our first home. A condo in a very nice area and it will do for a couple of years. We have plans for family but for now apartment type living will do. Jackie is a tall girl at 5 feet 10. She goes well with my 6 foot 3 inch...
TRUST ME! by Vickie Tern I. "Andrew dear, why didn't you ever get your ears pierced?" I looked up, astonished. My wife was perched comfortably in our big easy chair, her nest most evenings when she wasn't out selling a client some building, her legs curled up under her, reading one of her magazines, all as usual. She was gazing at me casually with a mixture of curiosity and mild concern, as if the question had just...
It's times like this I feel powerless; it's not a feeling I'm accustomed to, and it's bewildering.When someone that you love is hurting, you want to fix it, make things better, put a band-aid on it or kiss it better. Sometimes it's just not possible.It fascinates me how closely women form friendships. I have my mates, I'd be gutted to lose any of them, but I can't quite get my head around how close they were and the effect this loss has had on her. I find her sad brown eyes gazing longingly at...
Straight SexTrust By Razor7826 (Copyright Razor7826 2007. The events presented in this work are fictional and do not represent the views of the author in any way.) "John... put that thing away. We've already talked about this..." I stared at the disgusting red ballgag that my shirtless husband dangled in front of me. "You know that we should always have a safe word." "Shhh, Erica." He placed his index finger gently over my lips and stared at me with his hazel eyes. "You trust me, don't...
Trust By Razor7826 (Copyright Razor7826 2007. The events presented in this work are fictional and do not represent the views of the author in any way.) "John... put that thing away. We've already talked about this..." I stared at the disgusting red ballgag that my shirtless husband dangled in front of me. "You know that we should always have a safe word." "Shhh, Erica." He placed his index finger gently over my lips and stared at me with his hazel eyes. "You trust me, don't...
I was going through the morning mail my secretary had just put on my desk when I was alerted to an incoming call on my cell phone. Not too many people knew my cell phone number and a quick glance confirmed that it was from my best friend, Nick Camden. "Hello Nick, what can I do for you?" I asked as I continued to sort through the mail. "Jack, can we get together for lunch today?" A quick check of my calendar and I found I had time in my schedule. "Sure can. How about Sordino's at...
I'm going to tell you a story. Okay – that's what I do, I know. But this one is sort of true. You'll have to guess how much is truth and how much wishful fantasy... Jack's an older guy, nearing retirement age. He was, when this started, married to Audrey. Now Audrey, sadly, only comes into the story peripherally, but I need to tell you about her so you understand where Jack was coming from. He really loved Audrey. She was lovely; loyal, reliable, caring, honest, sincere ... you'll get the...
Trust is a word that gets tossed around a lot in the context of DS relationships but it's such an intangible and there is no set process in how to build or strengthen it. It can take ages to build and seconds to destroy. You know it when you have it, or when you've lost it but how did you get to that point? This is a story of how a bond of trust was strengthened following an emotional session of correction.They had gone through the usual steps of chatting online and felt that there was enough...
BDSMTrust Fall Book One of The Trust Trilogy Tess Quince Chapter Five OUTSIDE THE AIR IS WARM and the city seems full of energy. ‘I’ve heard about your Fountain Square. Would you show it to me?’ ‘Of course, it’s this way.’ I lead him one block south. We skip up the steps to the square and it’s more crowded than a normal weekday night. There’s a band on the stage playing salsa. The musicians are decked out in those traditional colorful costumes of countries that all blend together to...
=== Trust Machines: OTP === by Trismegistus Shandy ----- Note: the main character does not change gender, but several others do. For those who are unfamiliar with _Worm_ and its sequel _Ward_ by Wildbow, start here: https://parahumans.wordpress.com For those who are unfamiliar with the Trust Machines universe by dkfenger, start here: https://www.deviantart.com/trust-machines/ But hopefully you can enjoy this without having read either. Warning: minor character...
=== Trust Machines: Show and Tell === by Trismegistus Shandy ----- Thanks to dkfenger for creating the Trust Machines universe and letting others play in it. https://www.deviantart.com/trust-machines/ Thanks to dkfenger, mrsimple, and JAK for beta-reading the first draft. ----- "All right," said Ms. Koopman, eyeing her kindergarten class. "Who's next...? Kimberly, what have you got for Show and Tell?" The little girl she'd called on got up and walked up in front of...
Despite the strange tension and embarrassment, she was beginning to like the feeling of having her ass filled. She never imagined herself this exposed. On her belly, her buttocks lifted up to him, this vulnerable. She’d seen the device adorned with a diamond. She’d felt him slide it in after lubricating her.“It won’t hurt. Trust me.”He saw her body was slightly arching, as she adjusted to being stretched. He savoured the view of the diamond knob of the toy disappearing between cheeks. He...
AnalOur dinner was uneventful, and even pleasant. No, it was better than that. It turned out to be delightful, because despite all of my fears about the way I looked, nothing happened. The "first time" experiences accumulated so fast I didn't even notice many of them after a while, and Monica had to remind me about them. Monica drove to a modest-priced Italian restaurant, and when I saw it was crowded I protested. "No, that's what we want, dear, for you to be out among lots of people who...
Book One of The Trust Trilogy Tess Quince Chapter Thirteen BEN KNOCKS HARD ON MY door again. It startles me. Why does he do that? I know it’s six without checking the clock. He would be exactly on time. That’s who he is. The table is set. The salad is ready, I just put the potatoes in the oven a half hour ago and was waiting until he got here to cook the steaks. The whole time that I’ve been prepping dinner, I’ve been wondering when to have the I-don’t-love-you talk with him. I think over...
It wasn't really that Donny was dumb - just oblivious. He never noticed that the rest of us had limits on what we could spend. Even though I was his best friend - sometimes his only friend - the first I found out about his huge trust fund was when he was able to move into his own place in a nice neighborhood right outside of his art school. "This is a really nice place," I said. "The rent must be something terrible." "Oh, I wouldn't know about that. My parents are taking care of all...
Trust Me By Julie O Edited By Itinerant Chapter 1 Mike Doyle stood outside the three-story brownstone house and checked the address that he had entered into his phone. He suspected that Heather Green was well off, but he hadn't expected her to live in a home like this. He walked up the...
Secrets Held In is a short story written by Sir Semega and posted at Storiesonline. It was presented with an invitation to write your own ending. Well, I did and this is mine. Trust Left Out by juanwildone To say I didn't know what would happen next, between Doris (my wife) and me, well that turned out to be the understatement of the century. The next morning, when I awoke, I was fully rested and refreshed - maybe for the first time in years. I showered and even though I put on yesterdays...
My name is Dan Jansen, 34 years old, married to my 32-year-old wife, Paula, for twelve years. We met by chance on Memorial Day weekend fourteen years ago when I and a few friends decided to spend a weekend camping at the beach in New Hampshire and coincidentally Paula and a few of her friends had the same idea. Since I drove I had first pick and one look at Paula and it was a no brainer. She was and still is beautiful. I am a work from home IT specialist and Paula is an Auditor. She is a wiz...
Trust Fall Book One of The Trust Trilogy Tess Quince Chapter Four WHEN HE PULLS UP TO the valet station the kids manning it all give an eye roll. I see Ben Sheppard smile at that. I open the door and one of them helps me down. Ben hands another valet his keys and I see him tip a twenty and say in a low voice ‘for the truck being such a hassle’. The valet gives Ben a big smile and says ‘Thank you, sir’. Why do I like the fact that Ben tipped the guy a twenty and why do I like it even more...
Trust Fall Book One of The Trust Trilogy Tess Quince Chapter Six HE’S GONE. BEN SHEPPARD IS gone. Danny’s side of the bed is empty. The house has a vacant quiet to it. I’m sad and a little angry until I see a note on my nightstand next to a glass of orange juice. It’s a single piece of paper tented with a fold. Written on the side facing me is my name. ‘Tess’ is written in that precise script of his with a fine point blue pen. The way he crossed the T of my name and the angle of the two Ss...
Trust Fall Book One of The Trust Trilogy Tess Quince Copyright © 2014 Tess Quince All Rights Reserved Chapter Seven BEN SHEPPARD CALLS ME A few hours after I stormed out on Susan. Danielle is right, he does have a sexy phone voice. The first thing I say is ‘Thank you for breakfast…and the flowers…and the gift.’ ‘You’re welcome,’ he says in that voice. ‘I’d like to see you again if that’s okay, but I’m tied up the next couple of days. They’ve got these guys working major overtime down...
Trust Fall Book One of The Trust Trilogy Tess Quince Chapter Three BEN SHEPPARD KNOCKS ON MY front door instead of ringing the bell. It’s loud and firm and startles me. I’m already nervous and the surprise of his knock makes me a little more flustered. I’d been thinking of this moment all day. The moment when he rings my bell or, as it turns out, he knocks on my door. I primp myself in the mirror. The night will be cool so I’ve put on a nice pair of black jeans and a turtleneck with a long...
Trust Fall Book One of The Trust Trilogy Tess Quince Chapter Twelve ‘IT’S GOING TO BE MY last weekend in Cincinnati.’ ‘I know,’ I say. I snug the phone close to my chin. I wish I could see what he looks like when he says this. Is he sad? Indifferent? ‘Milwaukee is going to look even more cold and bleak when I get back…missing you.’ ‘You’re sweet.’ ‘I thought I might plan something special.’ ‘Every night we’ve been together has been special.’ ‘Thanks, but I’ll think of something even...
Trust Fall Book One of The Trust Trilogy Tess Quince Chapter Eight I WAKE. I WAS IN a deep, relaxed sleep. It was a full sleep. It isn’t the restless, worried sleep of a single mom with a little boy and a man-child ex-husband and a mortgage and a career and a portfolio of loans to monitor. It was the sleep you get laying on the beach with a head full of daiquiris. It was the sleep of a stoned college kid. It was the sleep of a child in the back of a car on the way home from grandma’s house...
Book One of The Trust Trilogy Chapter One I SLAP THE SNOOZE BUTTON OFF and roll over to grab another nine minutes of sleep. I keep my eyes closed thinking it might delay the work day a few more minutes. It doesn’t. It just puts me behind. I feel the other side of the bed. Empty? Where’s Danny? I sit up startled. Oh, yeah. He’s with my man-child ex- Josh. Great. That’s right. I have something else to worry about for the next month. Josh texted last night that they were in St. Louis....
Trust Fall Book One of The Trust Trilogy Tess Quince Chapter Eleven I’M THINKING ABOUT LOVE. I love Danny of course. I’m his mother. He’s part of me. He gives me joy and brightens my day, but even if he didn’t, I’d still give him everything he’d need. I’d still love him. I’m dedicated to him and his growth as a boy and someday as a man. I’d give anything for him. No questions. I want him to live a long, happy life, and I’ll do anything I can do to help him get that. That’s motherly love. ...
The Brigadier wasn't pleased with my question, posed during our final briefing. "Never mind the goddamned metaphysics, Lieutenant. We're talking physics here!" His tone became somewhat milder: "Just ... trust the science," he said. "You signed up for this with your eyes wide open." Well, he was right about that. I'd wanted to be a part of the Outer Planets Project since boyhood. I had followed with rapt attention the reports of all the manned flights to Mars and to the moons of...
Marina at 35 is still niave and innocent about sex, she has never been with a man willing to explore her fantasies. In our brief relationship, she is learning to trust me as I bring her fantasies true. I discuss bondage as a sexual fantasy for us; submission is hot. I explained we will proceed slowly and if she wants to stop then I will stop. I ask her fantasy; dress-up? Marina is shy and my question embarrassed her. One evening the conversation turned into light bondage. Sparking a small...
I would like to thank Y2C, Wergor, and David Gee and the others at the MC Forum for the help in designing this story. Thanks. Brian Towns was looking at the papers on his desk. It was hard catching with all that need to be done with his two business that when on below him. If it wasn't for Lucy, his personal assistant he would have been swamped with work that kept him from his real work. Being a superhero. It made him a bit guilt that he had accidentally made her his love slave. Brian Towns was...
Mind ControlDuring colleges I worked famous coffee shop, young and sexually active. I had crazy nights with plenty of young college age coworkers, but one in particular she had a boyfriend for a few years and was pretty wild but she never cheated on him. After one day she cracked and we became like rabbits almost every other day,we fine any opportunity to be alone... Fast forward 6 years into the futer... I just broke up a 4 year long relationship and I came back to my old stomping grounds, I was at my...
Dontrust : The Review Finally home from work, another day another $1.25. Tossing the Covid-19 mask onto the desk and getting rid of his jacket, a chance to relax. The last of the days sunlight filtering through the curtains, and once again home alone, to peace and quiet. At least he had been able to skip the need for quarantine, and his job was still safe, for now. However he had been unable to have a social life in months, no pub hopping, no dating, had not even been able to meet...
Bob walked into the squad room and tossed his notebook onto his desk. His inbox was full, and he groaned. He could hold his own on the streets. He'd been shot at half a dozen times, and had survived them all. He'd been in two wrecks, and all he'd suffered was a deep bruise in one thigh. He'd processed enough blood and body fluid evidence to infect a hundred thousand people with Hepatitis, or HIV, and was still clean as a whistle. The paperwork, though, would kill him. He knew it, deep in...
There was an uncomfortable silence in the booth, as they waited for the waitress to come and take their drink order. Once she was gone, Lacey looked at him, obviously waiting for him to speak. "It's like this," said Bob, starting in on a speech he'd given countless times, to countless women like this one. Well ... not quite like this one. This one was a lady. She had class. He rarely dealt with women of her class. But all he had was the speech, and some facts and figures, and that...
He was, in fact, five minutes late. Jeff Quincy, the patrol captain, had been just as incredulous as the patrol supervisor, and had used up half an hour being convinced that this wasn't some kind of mistake. When it turned out that the woman was the wife of a city councilman, it got more interesting, but the gun and the bullet hole in the dashboard pretty much told the story. This would be extremely difficult to sweep under the carpet. It helped that the woman insisted she had only been...
The place he directed her to was a tiny hole-in-the-wall that she would have never given a second glance. She realized how hungry she was the instant she walked in, through the door Bob held for her, and the odor of wonderful, delicious things hit her like a sledge hammer. "Vinny!" Bob called out to a man, standing at the grill, wearing a white paper hat. Vinny looked over his shoulder, grinned, and held both hands up in the air, a spatula still in one. "You got me, copper," he said....
Lacey was ferrying a flash drive containing hundreds of photographs from the dig to the museum. A major discovery had been found. A collapsed cellar had been uncovered and, inside it, there were bones. Human bones. It wasn't clear yet how they had come to be there, but there were no indications of intentional burial. The artifacts found with the bodies suggested that people had taken refuge in the cellar and had died there. The pictures were needed at the museum as soon as possible, so that...
Bob had just left the briefing room, coming on shift. He hadn't even buckled his seat belt when the radio squawked to life, telling him of a multiple injury accident, with an explosion involved. Paramedics and the fire department were already on the scene. Three patrols were being dispatched, and all three were still in the parking lot, after the briefing in the squad room. Three engines roared, and three sirens began to wail, as tires screeched. It was impossible to get close to the...
When Bob went off shift, he returned to the hospital. "How come you're the only cop who ever checks on her?" asked the head nurse. "It's my case," he said bruskly. "How's she doing?" "Better," said the nurse. "She should be awake. All her vitals are normal. The sedative has been stopped. The only reason she's still in ICU is that she won't wake up." "I'll just sit with her for a while," said Bob. He'd stayed in uniform, since that got him almost anything he wanted, with...
Sleep came with difficulty for Bob. His mind roiled with the import of what he knew ... or thought he knew. He tried to convince himself that cars caught on fire all the time. There was only circumstantial evidence that the dead man was her rapist at all. Even the fact that there had been no more rapes with that modus operandi didn't prove anything. Like Lacey, no one had come forward to ask where their son, or brother, or father, or husband was. The crispy critter, still unidentified, was...
He took her to the impound lot, answering her questions when he thought he could do so safely, and dodging them or changing the subject when it got close to something he didn't want to talk about. She was appropriately awed by the damage to her car, and only glanced through the box of her possessions. The attendant brought out a bill for storage, and Bob tore it up. "Hey, you can't do that!" said the attendant. "I just did," said Bob. "The lady was in the hospital while it was...
He took her to Santini's. On the way, he told her a car had sideswiped hers, and that she hadn't been injured. While she was trying to help others involved in the accident, an explosion had occurred. He left it simple. "Explosion," she said, her voice far away. "I remember light ... all over ... I was submerged in light." "What else do you remember?" he asked, his voice guarded. "Just that. When you said explosion, it just came to me." When they walked into Santini's, Donna met...
Bob eventually slept, despite the erection between his legs that demanded attention. It was still demanding attention when he woke the next morning, with a soft, naked woman pressed against his body. It had been a long time since there had been a naked woman of any kind pressed against his body when he woke. That had been a result of long hours, and an unwillingness by Bob to turn over part of his life to any woman. It wasn't that he didn't like women ... it was more that he hadn't found a...
Bob went back to his apartment. The bed was still unmade and the wrinkled linens held the imprint of a bed that had been slept in by a couple. The pillow she'd used was lying against his own, like her head had lain close to his. On impulse, he bent to sniff the sheets where she had lain. They smelled like ... her. He hadn't missed the verbal slip that the doctor had made. She'd been about to say that as much as she would have liked to get naked with him, right there in the office, it...
Bob sat and read magazines, until there were none left to examine. There was no noise coming through the door—it was so quiet he felt like he was the only person on the planet. Eventually, his ears detected the hum of air being pushed here and there by the building's air handler units. He heard a siren dimly, through the walls, but no traffic noises. He checked his watch so frequently that he finally took it off and put it in his pocket. Finally, he dozed off. He woke, when the door opened...
Bob popped two Vivarin when he got into the squad car the next morning. She had kept him up all night, satisfying her own needs and making up for the dry spell Bob had been in. He felt drained, but also more relaxed than he'd been in years. He was no longer distracted, either. Lacey had another appointment with Claire, but he was no longer worried that she'd suddenly realize there was no past between them. That had already been addressed. Now all he had to worry about was the return of...
Lacey went back to see Claire ahead of schedule, and told her everything that had happened. Claire put her under again, and spent an hour exploring the details of the rape that she hadn't gone after earlier. As each horrible part of the assault was revealed, Claire worked more instructions into the dialog, intended to minimize the emotional impact of the memories. Then she brought Lacey out of the hypnotic trance and spent another hour with her, concentrating on the things that Lacey felt...
Bob heard her gasp as he left the bedroom. His head swiveled and he saw her standing there, bent slightly forward, her arm outstretched, hand turned sideways in a fist at the top of a candle. Her face was so pale it looked almost ghostly. Her mouth opened and an agonized groan was torn from her throat as she dropped the lighter and reeled backwards. Her eyes stared at the tall, pale yellow flame that the lighter had created at the tip of the candle, but her mind saw the same hand,...
Back in the apartment, Claire asked questions. They were not "What did you do?" type questions, but rather were "How do you feel about what you did?" type questions. Lacey didn't feel good about any of it. For the psychiatrist, it was like walking a tightrope. Or, perhaps it was like making her patient walk the tightrope. There needed to be remorse for a bad deed, for there to be health in the mind and spirit. But it could be taken too far, and the patient could begin to hate herself,...
She was adamant about keeping her appointment with Claire. He was glad she was going, because he had to go to work. He hoped Claire would talk some sense into her, and he made her promise not to do anything until she'd talked it over with him, no matter what she decided to do. She was waiting for him when he got home from his shift. She was calm, but looked drained. "I have to make this right," she said. "If you're sure about this, then it needs to be done right," he said...
Two weeks later Bob was coming home from the gym, still dressed in his sweats. McDill had instructed them, superfluously, not to see each other until after the trial. He had been noncommittal after his questioning of Bob, concerning what his defense would be. "I have some ideas," was all he'd say. Bob turned the last corner and started toward the entrance to his apartment building. A car pulled to a stop at the curb next to him and the window rolled down. "Get in!" came a male voice he...
Roger Schwartz grabbed his briefcase and hurried for the entrance/exit of the new suite of offices the prosecutor's staff was lucky to have just moved into. Lucille, his secretary, called out a cheery "Good luck!" as he sailed by her desk. "Don't need luck!" he yelled back, flashing her a grin. In fact, he believed that. He was one of the up and coming lawyers of a generation that believed skill would make "luck" an archaic term. If that seems a bit rash, perhaps it could be said...
The door to the jury room opened and a man wearing glasses came in. He looked at something on a clipboard in his hand. "We're about to begin," he said, with no other introduction. "I need to give you some information about what's expected of you. Please listen closely." He read a list of rules, things they could and could not do while they were sitting in the jury box. His voice droned, making it clear he'd read this list countless times in the past. Fully half the jury tuned him...