Vice

by Nicole Marsh

  I can tell Jenna is now listening to the conversation, she’s using my body to stifle her giggles as my little sister rips me into shreds.

  I sigh, “I’m sorry Ally. My girlfriend got pretty messed up, more than me, from the incident where I got shot.” I can see Jenna looking at me wide-eyed, probably over the G-word. We haven’t had the chance to talk about us yet, except for the brief conversation in the hospital. “Give me one second, let me talk to her really quickly.” I put my phone on mute so I can talk to Jenna, “Do you want to meet my sister?”

  I’m helping Jenna get dressed after a shower, her hand is still pretty roughed up and it will probably be a few months until she regains full function again. I’m trying to get frisky instead of help her to clasp the back of her bra, while she swats at me with both hands and laughs.

  We’re interrupted when a knock sounds on Jenna’s front door. I sneak in a quick kiss before I leave Jenna in the bedroom to run a brush through her hair. When I open the front door, I’m almost knocked over as a shock of red hair launches at me from the porch and engulfs me in a hug.

  A bit of the air is knocked out of me, but I hold my sister to me until she wriggles to be let down, just like she did when she was a kid. Ally is seven years younger than my twenty-eight years, so I spent quite a few nights of her childhood babysitting her. Allowing my parents to have a date night, while earning some extra allowance.

  She’s longer the brace-faced pipsqueak with a tangle of red hair that she once was, but some habits are hard to break, including tormenting her with ridiculously long bear hugs. I laugh as I finally release her, placing her feet firmly on the ground before I let go.

  I can feel Jenna waiting in the background, not wanting to intrude on our moment. I step to the side so that she can see my tiny younger sister, “Jenna this is Ally, Ally this is Jenna.”

  Jenna walks forward with a warm smile, and extends her hand to shake my sister’s. Ally laughs, and says, “We’re huggers in this family.” Then steps forward and wraps her arms around Jenna. Jenna seems a bit stiff at first, then relaxes into Ally’s hold before stepping away with another smile.

  “Noted,” she responds after pulling away from the hug with a laugh.

  Jenna putters around the kitchen making coffee for all of us, while Ally and I sit at the table and catch up. Ally tells me about her school and shows both of us photos of a few of her paintings that have made it into local galleries recently. We talk about our parents and their recent cruise for a bit. Then about how Jenna and I met. After that our coffees are finished and the conversation peters off a bit. Jenna suggests that we all watch a movie together.

  We settle into the couch in front of the TV together. Jenna makes us all our own bowls of popcorn and the scene reminds me a bit of when Katia, Cooper, Jenna, and I were all hanging out here just a few weeks ago. From the look on Jenna’s face, I think that she feels the same way and it’s making her miss Katia even more.

  To lighten the mood, during Jenna’s next pass by to snag some beers for us from the kitchen, I wrap my arm around her waist and dip her into a deep kiss. My sister yells in the background, “Get a room.” And I can feel Jenna laugh against my lips. I let her go with a smile and a quick pinch to her butt. Soon we’re all settled into the couch again watching a horror movie that Ally picked out.

  Once the movie ends, I can’t help but tease Ally, “For an art student, you sure can’t pick out movies. Guess you’re not meant to be in film.”

  Ally just throws one of the pillows from the couch at me in response. I duck and the pillow misses, flopping onto the floor behind me.

  Jenna cuts in before things escalate, “Ally, it’s getting late. I have a guest room, do you want to stay over so you don’t have to drive home in the dark?”

  Ally looks at me, then back to Jenna before replying, “If you don’t mind. I would love to stay over, then maybe I can go snag some coffee with my brother before I head back home tomorrow.”

  Jenna flashes a smile at both of us before she gets up to grab some extra things for Ally to wear to bed. Jenna helps her to get settled in, while I go and hop in the shower before heading to bed.

  I enter the bedroom after my shower, with a towel wrapped around my waist. I can see that Jenna and I had the same train of thought. She’s laying on her side on the bed, naked, flipping through a book on her phone. I drop my towel to the floor and settle in to lay down behind her.

  I pepper her with kisses, starting at her neck and working down to her shoulder. I continue my trail of kisses down her spine until I reach her pert round bottom. I pull back, using both of my hands to massage her ass cheeks. She arches into my hands, wordlessly asking for more of my touch. I lean back in and lick down her ass crack, running my tongue along her rim. Jenna starts to push against my hands, still kneading her ass, and I let her flip over.

  I move my hands up her body, rolling her nipples between two fingers and she holds an arm over her mouth to help stifle her moans. I lean in again, this time running my tongue down her slit. I latch onto her clit, sucking and licking until she’s writhing beneath the ministrations of my mouth and hands. I move my palms to push against her thighs, opening her thighs wider. A few more slashes of my tongue and I can feel her coming apart on my mouth, her breathy moans audible past her arm.

  I move up her body and pepper more kisses across her stomach, until I reach her nipples. I suck one into my mouth, giving a gentle nip before I move to the other. I slide my length across the wetness between her legs. Rubbing against her clit with my smooth tip.

  Jenna lets out another moan and I continue moving up her body with my kisses, gently sucking, licking, and biting her neck. I thrust my hard cock deep inside her at the same time as I lay a hungry kiss across her mouth, letting her moans pour into me as I move inside her. I pull her hips up with my hands to get a better angle, feeling as though I’m bottoming out as I thrust myself deep inside her.

  My release is building quickly. I remove one hand from her hips and move to rub my fingers across her clit, I can feel her clenching around me after a few strokes and we both reach our climax together. I thrust a few more times until her moans have quieted down, then pull out to lay beside Jenna in the bed. I wrap my arm around her and pull her tightly against my body, nuzzling my face into her neck.

  After our breathing has evened out, Jenna turns to face me again. She has a pensive look on her face, like something has been bothering her. I rub her arm and ask, “What’s wrong, baby?”

  She hesitates then replies, “Something just popped into my head while we were laying here. Something that I can’t figure out.” I make a sound of encouragement hoping she continues. I only have to wait a few seconds before she says, “I don’t understand why that girl was in my Club dressed like me the night of the Masquerade. The police were never able to figure out why she was there or who she was.”

  I think about her thoughts for a minute, formulating a response in my mind that will hopefully soothe her worries, “She could have been sent as a message. Maybe the Bratva chose her because she looked like you and wanted to make sure that you knew they were after you.”

  She nods her head at my response.

  I add one more thought to help us both sleep, “You’re safe now, Baby. The Bratva is gone, they left Chicago, and that part of our life is over. I’m sad for that girl and her family but I’m thankful that you’re safe.”

  She kisses me softly, whispering against my lips, “Me too, and I’m glad that I found you.”

  Jenna nestles in closer and soon she’s snoring lightly against my chest.

  I take Ally to one of my favorite cafes the next morning. Not only do they have great food and coffee, but they also have the best outdoor patio. Cooper and I used to come here all the time, at the end of our shifts. Ally and I each place our orders and I pay for our drinks, before we head outside to find a table.

  After we take our seats, Ally shoots me a sly look, “So tell me about Jenna.”

 
I chuckle. It’s just like my sister to get straight to the point. I explain a bit more about how we met and her business, then I reply just as bluntly, “Things are pretty new, but they’re serious. Jenna is incredible, I’ve never met another woman like her.”

  Ally beams at my response, “When are you bringing her to meet mom and dad?”

  I laugh, “I don’t want to scare her off yet, Al. But I want her to meet the whole family soon.”

  We move on to talk about lighter topics and spend an hour sitting on the patio of the café, enjoying the fine fall weather of Chicago.

  Once we finish drinking our coffee, Ally drives me back to Jenna’s apartment. When we pull into the parking lot, Ally gives me a hard squeeze across the center console of the car. She tells me to stay in touch and to stay out of the line of fire. She mimes finger guns at me as she talks.

  I laugh at her corny joke and squeeze her back just as hard. I pull back and ruffle her short red locks before letting myself out of the car. I watch her drive away, before I head upstairs.

  I let myself into the apartment and find Jenna cleaning the kitchen. She has her headphones in and is humming under her breath. The whole scene warms my heart. We already feel so domestic. We just fit.

  What I told Ally about Jenna is true. I’ve never met anyone else like Jenna. And I never plan to let her go.

  Epilogue

  Jenna

  One year later

  “Babe have you seen my nude pumps?” I call out to Alex, while simultaneously tearing through my closet like a natural disaster. Tossing things out onto the bedroom floor, while looking for the missing shoes in question.

  After we were released from the hospital, Alex moved right into my apartment with me. At first I thought he was just helping to get me settled back in while I recovered, before we both returned to our normal lives. It didn’t take long for me to realize, he was planning to stay on a permanent basis. He almost refused to even go home to grab the rest of his stuff and end the lease on his apartment, not wanting to be far from me for that long.

  Alex was afraid I would end up missing again if he let me out of his sight for an extended period of time. A few days and a couple of small arguments later, he finally agreed to a moving day, to handle the rest of his belongings, and make his move-in to my apartment official. A still recovering Cooper and I helped him pack up his clothing and sell some of his furniture. He ended his lease the same day as the move and we became housemates.

  I wasn’t sure at first, if it was too soon to take our relationship to the next level of living together on a full time basis. Alex was patient with my hesitance to label our relationship, letting me refer to him as my housemate for a full month after he moved into my apartment. I was confident after a week or two, maybe a month at most, our newness would wear off, and Alex would realize he made a huge mistake and decide that he wanted to have his own place again.

  My worries about Alex and labeling the relationship were unfounded. Since the official move in day, we have lived in domestic bliss. Well, mostly. We have experienced a few growing pains, most of which have originated from me having to sacrifice my closet space for Alex’s clothes. He doesn’t own much, but the transition from filling all four closets in my apartment, to only being able to use three, has been tougher than I expected.

  As much as I (sort of) joke about the loss of closet space, Alex more than makes up for the space he takes up. He is an excellent chef, a passionate lover, and a thoughtful partner.

  I still miss my friendship with Katia fiercely, but I’m also incredibly thankful to her. In a way, Katia is the one that brought Alex into my life. Without all of the craziness that happened last year, it’s possible that Alex and I would’ve never crossed paths. Chicago is a huge city, after all. Alex is the piece of my life that I never knew was missing, and now I can’t imagine living a single day without him in it.

  I hope that Katia’s also found her happiness in her new life in Miami, or wherever she ended up. I try not to dwell on the fact that she hasn’t tried to contact me since she left. Alex has told me may times that she probably doesn’t feel safe enough to keep up communication with me after she left town to avoid her father.

  I think he’s right, Pavel was clearly insane and I’m glad that she was able to leave before he found her. But it still hurts to lose Katia, after she was such a large part of my life for four years. I hope that I never have to cross paths with Pavel again, and I hope that Katia is able to stay safe, far out of his reach as well.

  With Katia still gone, there have been a few staffing changes to Vice. Sira finally got the promotion she had been striving for, and we also had some structural changes for our security team. In addition to Alex moving in to my apartment to become my new housemate, he also ended up moving into Vice as the new head of security. It just made sense for him in his career, based on all that had happened, and the changes at the Police Department.

  Cooper was accepted into an undercover position that focused on organized crime. He left for training, then was assigned to his first position out of state within a couple months of Alex and I leaving the hospital. He encouraged Alex to try to join the same division, not wanting to lose his best friend and partner of five years.

  Alex declined Cooper’s invitation. He said he’s never been interested in undercover work, but he’s even less interested now that it would mean having to spending months apart from me at a time. He also said he can’t handle the possibility of putting my life in danger again, if anything ever went wrong. Undercover work can be dangerous, for officers and their families. Alex told me he’s experienced enough of my life being in danger already, he doesn’t want to be the one to add more.

  After moping around the house for a few days, over the loss of Cooper as a partner, Alex decided he wasn’t ready to work that closely with someone else again. He wasn’t ready to extend his trust to someone else protecting his life, yet. Instead, he told me he was thinking that it may be time for a career change.

  I didn’t realize that Alex was thinking about transitioning into private security from the police force. Alex hinted about making a big change, even changing industries several times, before he finally initiated a conversation about the security at Vice. It wasn’t until he started pointing out various areas for potential improvement in Vice’s security that I finally caught on to what he meant by a change of industry.

  I let him convince me that it was probably time for a few changes at the Club, including improving security. Alex became Vice’s first head of security, I was previously the owner/manager, essentially overseeing all of the departments within the Club, seeking advice from my more tenured staff members as necessary. Since his start date, Alex has been hard at work ensuring the safety of the employees and Patrons of the Club, and the employees seem to be grateful for the initiatives he has taken so far.

  I finish tearing apart my closet in the hunt for the missing shoes. Leaving the room in its current state of disaster, due to time constraints, I walk into the living room. I’m intent on finding my pumps, they are the perfect shoes for both my outfit and the occasion. I wander in to find Alex standing against the wall by the door, holding my pumps off the tip of his fingers on one hand and holding his cell phone, texting with the other hand. I finish my walk towards him and lay a brief peck on his lips while snagging my shoes.

  I’m going for a casual, chic look, I have my hair cascading in waves down my back, wearing a blush pink, short-sleeved wrap dress paired with my nude pumps. Alex is looking scrumptious today, he’s wearing a pair of navy blue slacks and a white button up. He has the sleeves partially rolled up, showing off some of the muscles that he works hard for and offering some light arm porn to entertain my attention for the evening.

  I use one hand to balance with a dining room chair and the other to pull each shoe on. Once I have my shoes, I go check out my ensemble in my mirror. Giving my reflection a saucy wink of approval, I grab some coffee, and then I’m ready to roll.

 
Today we are heading out into the suburbs to see Alex’s family. His sister, Ally, is about to finish her last year of art school in New York, but for the next few weeks she’s back in Illinois at the Roth family home for summer break.

  Ally sent us an invitation a few weeks back to come over and view some of her most recent art work. I’ve spoken on the phone with her since to confirm that Alex and I would come to support her art, of course and talk about her event. She told me her plans to set up a mock art show in her parent’s back lawn and invite her family and close friends to come over for a viewing.

  I’m pretty excited, I’ve never schmoozed with a famous, or soon to be famous artist at their own gallery show. Which is essentially what we’ll be doing today. She tries to stay modest about it, but Ally is a great artist. A piece of her art work is hanging in the apartment, and whenever anyone comes over they always comment on how striking it is.

  The hour and a half drive into the suburbs passes by quickly. Alex and I sing along to the radio at the top of our lungs. We serenade each other completely off tune, but it doesn’t matter to us. The only true way to appreciate the car radio is to belt out the words in time with the songs and with gusto. Enthusiasm matters more than talent in car karaoke.

  We reach Alex’s parent’s house, a large estate-style home, in decent time. I’ve been to the Roth family home a few times already, since we’ve established our relationship. Immediately after we moved in together, Alex started planning a day for me to come meet his parents, which was sweet but also nerve-wracking. The meet and greet went better than anticipated though. His parents are very sweet and have the kind of loving relationship I hope to have, even after being married for thirty-five years.