by D STEP
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
ONE
Joel pushed his chair back from his desk, slipping his headphones off. Loud bass immediately reached his ears with a rhythmic thumping. He glanced at the glass of Mountain Dew he had sitting beside his keyboard. Ripples danced over the surface of the drink.
“You gotta be kidding me,” he muttered, getting to his feet and stepping over to his door. He jerked it open and the muffled bass hit him even louder. He walked down the hall past the bathroom and banged on his foster-sister’s bedroom.
“Sasha,” he yelled. “Can you cut the music down some?”
The bass continued to thunder, loud and hard, angry low-end machine noise and synthesizers accompanying it. Joel found hard house to be the most annoying thing in the world to try and ignore. The bass punched you in the bones and was impossible to drown out.
“Sasha!” he yelled again, turning the knob on her door. It was locked. He banged on the door with the flat of his hand a few times before the volume took a nose dive.
The door jerked open with a gust of wind and Sasha looked up at him with fierce green eyes. He flinched back a little. “What do you want?”
“I can’t hear myself think.”
She put her hands on her hips. Her hair was wet; she must’ve just taken a shower. He skin was a little flushed—maybe she’d been working out before?
She was wearing yoga pants that hugged her dancer’s legs and curvy hips. Her waist was tight and flat, tanned and—
“What are you doing?”
“Huh?” Joel asked, looking her in the eye. She frowned.
“You just—”
“Don’t try and change the subject. Please, just keep your music down.”
“And when you’re in your room, mixing that God awful shit you call music do I ever bother you?”
“You’re shaking the fucking windows!” Joel yelled. “I have my headphones on and the volume blasting and I can still here every beat coming from your speakers!”
She blinked at him, crossing her arms, which only pushed her bust up in the Under Armour bra she was wearing. “Aww, you’re getting mad. You’re cute when you’re mad.” Joel sighed.
“I’m just…can you turn it down? Please?”
“Yeah, I’ll turn it down,” she said, whipping a hand out and smacking him on the stomach.
“Ow,” he muttered, turning away from her.
“Tighten that up, you’re slacking,” she said with a grin.
“Yeah? Fuck you.”
She shut the door and as soon as he’d taken a seat back in his chair, the heavy drone and changing tones of a loud rap beat hit his eardrums. He downed his Mountain Dew, threw on his sneakers and grabbed his phone from his bedstand.
Jogging down the stairs to the living room, he saw his mom—well, his godmother, peeking through the blinds of the big windows. He stopped at the foot of the stairs, watching her.
“Katherine?”
She spun around, almost falling onto the couch that was place in front of the window. She looked at him with a deer-in-the-headlights expression.
“I assume you’re not going to tell me who you were spying on?”
“I…well, I was just going to see who your sister was talking to out there.”
“Anni?”
“Yeah, she’s talking to some boy out there.”
“Well, I was just going to go out for a run, I could spy on her for you,” Joel said with a smile.
She smiled back at him. “I didn’t know you had such a penchant for the covert. Although, I doubt you’ll be able to sneak around without being noticed. You’re rather tall.”
“And rather black.”
She frowned at that. “That’s not funny. Has anyone been giving you trouble?”
“No, I was totally joking.”
Joel started for the front door. “Actually, the only one giving me trouble,” he pointed up at the ceiling, “is that one upstairs. Sometimes I just want to choke her.”
Katherine smiled. She re-adjusted the drapes and stepped away from the window. She was tall enough to not feel tiny around Joel, but as she approached him, she still stood on her tiptoes for a moment. She patted him on the chest. “She only does that because she knows you’ll react to it.”
“It’s still annoying.”
She shifted her long red curls behind her ear, a conversational tic that both her daughters had picked up. “Well, it just means she likes you and doesn’t know how to tell you.”
Joel frowned. “Yeah. Sure. I’ll see you in a bit.”
“Okay.”
He pushed open the front door, and stepped outside into another beautiful suburban summer day. It was hot as hell, but he liked it when it was hot. If he wasn’t sweating buckets by the time his run was over, not much had been accomplished.
He stood on the welcome mat for a moment, adjusting his earbuds and plugging them into his phone. Katherine’s Hyundai Tucson sat a few feet away from him, in dire need of a good wash. Across the street, cookie-cutter houses continued in uniform spacing all the way down the street and around the corner. He waved at their neighbor across the street, Mr. Travalt, and stepped from under the protective shade of the overhang in front of their door.
Sunlight hit his skin like a fist. This was going to be a good run. He hit play on his usual list and “Shepherd of Fire” by Avenged Sevenfold started playing. He stepped around the Tucson and walked down towards the sidewalk, ignoring the mailbox while he loosened a little.
He started off on his jog, figuring thirty minutes would do the trick. He quickly passed three houses, his long stride eating up the distance. He dodged a sprinkler system and then glanced to his right. In front of him, across the street, Anni was waving to him, jumping up and down a little. As if she had to do that to get his attention.
He pulled his earbuds out. She was standing beside a chubby guy with a neckbeard that had on a little too much black for the summer time. He didn’t look too happy that she was now bringing a handsome jogging man into their conversation.
“What’s up?” he asked.
“Come over here,” she called. He checked the street, crossing quickly when he saw it was clear and slowed down near the curb, avoiding a topless BMW and a beat up Jeep.
She beamed a smile at him as he walked into the yard where they stood under the shade of a tree. A kid raced by behind him on a bike. He stopped beside her, glancing from her to the neckbeard without a name.
“Joel, I want you to meet Adam.”
Joel flashed a quick grin to Adam and offered his hand for a shake. “Nice T-shirt, dude.” Adam ignored his hand and pulled him into a quick bro-hug. He glanced at Anni. She smiled.
“I hope I’m not throwing you off your schedule or anything.”
“No. This is all Anni’s fault.”
She pouted, which only drew attention to her full lips.
He grinned at her. “I’m just kidding. What’s going on?” He turned to Adam. “And no offense, but who are you?” He tossed the earbuds over his shoulder. “I mean, do you know the Peytons?”
“Yeah. Ashley is my cousin. I know Annicka from school and it was coincidence that she was over here the same time as my family. She saw my The Contortionist T-shirt and I guess she thought of you.”
“Cool. Cool.”
Joel ran a hand through his hair; it was a faded haircut with a high top, which was why most people assumed he played basketball. He needed to cut it.
“I was telling Adam that you remix popular pop and rap songs into metal friendly versions and we were talking about your YouTube page.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. I love stuff like that. I listen to Massive Metal Covers on YouTube, so, I’ll be sure to give your stuff a listen.”
“Thanks, bro. I hope you like it. And if you do, just shoo
“Sure, man.”
Joel glanced to Anni. She was wearing a short-sleeve light flannel, daisy duke shorts that showed her long legs and flip-flops. He loved it when she painted her cute little toes in highlighter colors.
“What?” she asked, looking at him with a grin on her face that crinkled the edges of her blue eyes and wrinkled her nose. He loved the little sprinkle of freckles on her nose, too.
“Huh? Oh. Aren’t you going to burn to death out here in this heat? You’re still paler than flour and if you’re planning to get a tan I suggest you ease into it.”
“Thanks for the suggestion, but that’s why I’m under a tree.”
“Touché. Adam, it was nice to meet you, man, but I’ve got to run.” They both looked at him while he looked back with a silly grin.
“Okay, you don’t give that one to me. It’s okay, I’ve got some more.” He began retreating out of the yard while Anni shook her head.
“Add me on FaceBook, bro!” he called as he crossed the street and resumed his jog.
*****
The night quietly crept in outside Joel’s window. Before he knew it, it was midnight and his eyes were starting to hurt. He was getting nowhere with the new song, so he shut down his program. It was quiet downstairs, and everywhere else through the house, he was the only one awake. It’d been ten days since he’d last relieved himself, and the pressure had been building quickly over the past few days, making him less proficient in anything he had to concentrate on. Including music.
He got up to lock his door, stripped down to his boxers, and opened up one of his drawers, revealing some Vaseline.
He turned the fan on to mask any ambient sounds, checked the volume of his headphones, and then brought up the video he’d been letting load for half an hour. The young blonde performer on the screen was hungrily working over a big cock, which was attached to her skinny boyfriend. He leaned against the counter, thighs occasionally flexing as he ran his free hand through her hair.
Joel rubbed his hands together quickly, coating his hands with the Vaseline and rubbing it on his cock, working the shaft up and down without the intent of lasting very long.
The couple had switched from the kitchen to the living room, the skinny boyfriend jerkily pounding in and out of his girlfriend from behind. Her head hung low for a moment, hair hanging down in front of her as she gripped the arm of the couch to steady herself. A moment later, her boyfriend gripped her hair at her command and pulled her head up and back, exposing her face to the camera as he continued hammering.
He imagined her as Anni, imagined himself behind her, his strong hands gripping her pale hips as he slid his cock in and out of her.
Her heavy sighs filtered into Joel’s ears as he used first one hand and then both to twist up and down his thickened cock. The head was engorged and sensitive after so many days without masturbation. His balls felt heavy even as they tightened against his groin and pre-come began to ooze thickly from the slit in his head.
The boyfriend quickly shuffled forward to the dresser where the camera was, still buried balls-deep in his girlfriend. She gripped the edge of the dresser, which was at eye-level. He could hear every slap of their flesh meeting, every slippery thrust. Every quick breath forced from her lungs. Every breath from Anni’s lungs as he hammered her, his arms wrapped around her from behind, his mouth against her neck as he heaved into her.
A groan escaped his lips as the gorgeous girl looked into the camera’s eye, looked into his eyes, while taking every inch of her lover. He could see her quickly rubbing her clit, and the sound of her arousal sent ungodly heat rushing through his veins. His breaths were quickened, and his right hand moved furiously up and down, losing rhythm as he slowed and sped up involuntarily.
The blonde looked down and then back at the camera, her blue eyes widening, skin flushed. She bit her lip, let out a muffled cry and announced loudly to her boyfriend and her viewing audience that she was cumming.
Joel followed suit, cresting the wave he’d mounted and cumming hard, bucking forward in his computer chair. He didn’t know how loud the grunt he let out was as the orgasm rolled through him in spasms. He felt hot cum on his thighs and on his clenching belly as he blindly stroked himself, completely lost in the moment, in his orgasm.
The couple continued fucking as he let his head fall back, looking at the ceiling. His pulse still pounded in his skull as he absently stroked his still throbbing cock. After a few more moments in the afterglow, he got up to clean himself up and pretend he hadn’t cum to thoughts of Anni. Again.
His jog the next day didn’t go at the same pace that they had the afternoons before. He was a little slower, a little less driven, and a little less interested.
He slowed down to an aching walk while MGMT blasted in his ears. Sweat poured down his skin in rivers. He’d long ditched his drenched T-shirt in favor of bare skin. He could see his house ahead, only a half-dozen front yards in front of him. He’d made a big circle around their entire neighborhood, waving to the neighbors he knew, and avoiding the barking dogs of the ones he didn’t.
“Finally,” he muttered, almost falling in through his front door. He resisted the urge to throw his wet T-shirt down on the floor in front of the door.
Katherine looked at him from the couch in front of the TV. She waggled a finger at him. “Don’t even think about it. Take it straight to the laundry room.”
He dumped the shirt and headed up the stairs. “You know, if you just walked around the gym with your shirt off, they’d probably give you a job there.”
“I like where I work enough,” he called down to her.
“You’re not making enough money to get your own car,” she said. He stopped on the stairs, backpedaling a few steps.
“I thought you were gonna help me out with that?”
“Joel, I can only help so much. You, Anni and Sasha are all in school—at different schools, mind you, at the same time. I make good money, but it’s not good enough to have three Mustangs sitting out front along with my own car.”
“Never said anything about a Mustang,” Joel said with a grin.
“Well, you didn’t have to.”
“Sasha has a pretty nice Altima. Throw me a bone here.”
“She put most of the money down on that one. And she’s getting something else, without my help.”
“What about Anni? She’s got a Ford Fusion!”
“Again, I didn’t really help her out with that one either.”
“Where the hell are they getting this money from?” Joel muttered. “I bust my ass in my internship and it’s not paying me shit.”
“Just something to think about,” Katherine said. “No sense in working out all the time if somebody doesn’t see it.”
He squinted at her. “Don’t even go there.”
“Every time you jog down the street, half the blinds in our neighborhood open.”
“I’m getting a shower,” he said loudly as he disappeared up the stairs.
“When are you gonna bring a nice girl home?” she called after him.
TWO
JOEL plopped down on the couch with a beer and a plate of pizza, and even threw his bare feet up on the coffee table, pushing aside a few issues of Cosmopolitan magazine. He flipped through the channels.
“You picked up the pay-per-view for me, didn’t you?” he called to Katherine who was near the back of the house, in her own room.
“Yeah!”
“Thanks!”
He flipped through the guide, changed the channel, and settled in, taking a quick swig of the beer. Anni came down the stairs, in a mini-skirt and heels and a low-cut top. He almost dropped his beer. Her hair was coiffed and bouncy and her make-up brought out her bright blue eyes.
She stopped at the bottom of the stairs. He hadn’t noticed how nice her calves were, or how sexy that little gap between her thighs was. Her waist was flat, but not too flat—she was trim but still had a little curve, and somehow, through some fashion magic, she’d made her cute little perky breasts look like they were going to pop out of her top.
He managed a coherent sentence. “I guess you’re going out?”
“I guess you’re not? Again.”
“I swear I’ll go out with you guys—”
“You say that every time we go out,” Anni said. “I’m beginning to think you’re a chicken.”
“If you weren’t going out on fight night, I’d fuckin’ be there.” He pointed at her. “Like this,” he said, snapping his fingers. Anni rolled her eyes and looked up the dark stairwell.
Sasha came gingerly down the stairs. Her heels were even higher than her sister’s. She had the quintessential little black dress. Her dress featured a perfect neckline to show off the breasts she was so proud of and the rest of the dress did the very easy job of showing off her genetic curves. She even had the cute little Tomlin family pooch that was a little more pronounced on Katherine. She did get it from her mother.
“Fucking lame. Sitting at the house. You never come hang out with us. It would be the best night of your life.”
Anni elbowed her sister lightly and Sasha said something under her breath.
“You guys look great, though,” Joel chimed in.
“I know,” Sasha said, flashing a smile. She turned around, showing how the dress hugged her butt. “This ass is gonna get me free drinks all night.”
“You guys aren’t driving, I assume?”
“No. Nicole’s meeting us out front in…” She checked her watch. “…Ten minutes.”
“Oh. Okay, well, I hope you guys have a good time. Don’t party too hard. I’m not driving to the precinct to bail anyone out of jail.”
There was a loud horn outside. Anni looked down at her phone. “She could’ve told me she was gonna be early. C’mon, let’s go. Bye Jojo.”
“Asshole,” Joel called after her. “I hate that name!”
Joel was thinking about calling it a night. It was the middle of a boring main event with more referee warnings and breaks than he’d ever seen. His phone buzzed loudly on the table. He picked it up.
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