by Tim Miller
He shook his head.
“No. No. No. I want a massage and a hand-job. And I want them from you.”
“Why? It's way more expensive for me to do it.” Not to mention she didn’t want to oil up this guy and jerk him off.
“Because I think you are beautiful and sexy. I’ll even pay extra.” He dug into his wallet, took out several more hundred dollar bills, and handed them to her. She flipped through. With what he’d already paid her, that was almost four thousand dollars she'd made for this one-hour session. Usually, she only made five or six hundred, maybe more for the real kinky stuff. This guy wanted a four grand hand-job?
“Hey, it’s your money. Go get undressed and lie down on the table. What do you want me to wear?”
“Can you wear like a silk robe or something?”
“Yeah I have something like that, I think. I’ll be right back.”
When she returned, he was lying on the table face down. His flabby bottom facing her as his other fat rolls drooped from the sides of the table. Her clients came in all shapes and sizes so body types one way or the other didn’t do much for her. Something about him was making her dread touching him. She grabbed the oil, squirted it on her hands, and began rubbing his back. She’d never taken a real massage class. All she knew was to rub and squeeze and go by the client’s responses.
“Mmmm,” he moaned. “That’s nice.”
“You like that?” she asked, trying to sound sweet. She worked her way down his doughy back and along his ass, squeezing each of his cheeks and then his thighs. Once she was done, he rolled over onto his back. He was already fully erect when he rolled over. She massaged his chest and shoulders before applying more oil and going to work on his cock. She stroked his shaft while teasing his balls with her other hand, brushing it with her fingertips. His eyes rolled back into his head, and he let out a grunt and a moan as he shot his load all over her hand.
She continued stroking until he was all done and then grabbed a washcloth, cleaned off herself, and then cleaned off John. Once she was done he looked up at her, smiling.
“That was amazing. Talk about the magic touch.”
“I guess so. Time’s about up, too. So, perfect timing.” As she went to back away, he grabbed her wrist, firmly but gently.
“Can we go again? I’ll pay for it. I’ll pay double.”
As he touched her, a sharp pain shot through her head. It started in the front and worked its way back as if her brain was on fire. It only lasted a couple seconds, then it passed. She looked down at him, and he was still smiling at her as she ripped her hand away.
“No. I have another appointment coming.”
“Oh, come on. Don’t be like that. Just cancel him. You know I’ll pay more. Way more.”
She suddenly didn’t want him near her. Something had seemed off with him from the start. First, her initial revulsion, then when he grabbed her, whatever the fuck that was.
“This is a long-time client, so no.”
“You know, I could make you do it if I wanted to.”
“What is that supposed to mean? Is that a threat?”
He held his hand up at her and turned it to the side as if he were turning a dial. She looked at him confused.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
The smile disappeared from his face as he did it again.
“I told you, you need to leave. Keep this up and I’ll call the cops.”
He dropped his hand and turned, grabbing his clothes while throwing them on.
“Fine. I’m getting out of here. What the fuck is wrong with you, bitch?” he snarled. His whole tone and demeanor turning angry, bordering on rage.
“What? You better get the fuck out of here now!” she shouted. He pulled on his shirt and pants, slid on his shoes, grabbed his jacket and ran out of the apartment. Once he was out, she threw the deadbolt. What the fuck was that all about?
Chapter 12
Steve Barnard walked around his club. Well, it wasn’t technically his club, but he ran it. Normally the real owner, Henry J. Thomas was in by now and mingling. Usually at his table in the corner with half the girls in the club around while he threw money at them. Steve took another Aleve to calm his head. All the years managing clubs he never got used to the thump, thump, thumping of the club music. Year after year it all sounded the same to him. It was just noise. He personally preferred classic rock, or these days, silence.
Going home at the end of a long night, he enjoyed sitting in total silence. He didn’t even own a TV. There was plenty of noise in his life.
“Hey, Stevie!” Stoney Lawrence said as she walked up to him and began playing with his tie. Stoney was a tall blonde regular at the club. Steve used to give them an open tab until Henry took over. “You going to hook us up with some drinks tonight?”
“You know I can’t do that. The new boss has been watching the books a lot closer. He flips the fuck out on anyone caught stealing from him.” As in they tend to go missing.
“Oh, just this once. I brought my friend Elizabeth with me.”
She stepped to the side to show Elizabeth Harris sitting behind her. A few months before, he and Elizabeth had had a bit of a fling. Well, it went on for a couple months before she suddenly stopped calling and stopped coming to the club. Part of him hadn’t really cared. There was no real connection between them. He was a fifty-year-old club owner and she was a twenty-seven-year-old who, well he wasn’t even sure what she did. Their time together hadn’t involved a lot of get-to-know-you talk. It was pretty much straight sex, and Elizabeth was a fucking monster.
At his age, recovery time wasn’t the greatest, but she just wanted to go and go and go. It was exhausting, but fun. She turned him on so much, he hadn’t gotten off so many times in years. Since she stopped calling he hadn’t seen her until Stoney moved to the side. Elizabeth was sitting at a table in a low cut red top with spaghetti straps and her boobs about to pop out. God, he used to suck on those things endlessly.
“She said she misses you,” Stoney said.
“Really? That’s why she hasn’t shown up or called in three months?”
“Oh, don’t be like that. She’s just been busy. You know how it goes.”
“I guess so.”
“So what do ya say?” She stopped playing with his tie and began running her finger along his chest.
“Ok. One round on me. After that, you’re on your own.”
“Thank you, honey. You want to come say hi?”
“I guess, sure.”
They walked over to the table but Elizabeth continued on her phone.
“Hey Liz, look who’s here?”
Elizabeth continued playing on her phone and just said “Hey.”
“Hi, Elizabeth. It’s been awhile. How you been?”
“I’m all right. I see you still work here.”
“Yeah. It’s my job. Has been for a long time.”
“Cool.”
He looked at Stoney who shrugged.
“Missed me, huh?”
“She did for real! Liz! Why are you blowing him off?”
“Did you get our drinks or what?” She finally put the phone down. “I mean if I suck your dick will that get us free drinks?”
Jesus Christ. What was it with these girls and demanding free shit?
The music stopped right before someone screamed from the back of the club. People stopped and began looking around.
“Jesus Christ, what now?” Steve said as he made his way toward the screaming. There was a weird smell through the club like something was burning.
“The doors are locked!” One man yelled as he stood at one of the exits pushing on the emergency door. That shouldn’t be, those doors only lock from the outside. Steve walked around trying to figure out what was happening when there was an explosion from the other side. He dove to the ground as debris rained down around them. One woman fell to the floor next to him, but there was a huge chunk of metal lodged in one side of her face. Her good eye remained open i
n an empty stare until he jumped to his feet.
“What the fuck!” He called out as the club began to fill with smoke, and fire roared out of the back office and into the main club. People ran to the exits and began pounding and kicking but the doors wouldn’t give. He ran into the kitchen to try the doors there. Both kitchen exits were locked or jammed shut also. Panic began to set in as he rushed back to the club where complete chaos has set in. People were fighting with the exit doors and with each other. Bodies lay on the floor from having been trampled.
Parts of the club were now fully engulfed in flames. Stoney ran up to him and grabbed him while screaming. Her hair was on fire in a huge white plume. The smell of burned hair and flesh stung his nose as he tried to back away. He didn’t want her to catch him on fire. She shrieked as her skin popped and melted while the flames worked their way down her head and along her face. Her flesh blistered as Steve finally pushed her away. She wasn’t giving up. What the fuck did she want from him?
He finally shoved her off him and she lay on the ground, burning. His sleeve caught fire as he pushed her off. He quickly removed his jacket, but the fire had already burned through his clothes, catching his arm on fire. He tried to wave his arm to put the fire out and then tried to smother it with his jacket but it had spread up his back and onto his tie. The pain came all at once, screaming through his entire body as the white hot flames licked his flesh and clothing.
He turned to try and run to anywhere he could only to plow right into Elizabeth. They both fell to the ground with him on top of her. The smoke, heat and flames made Steve’s head feel like it could explode. Elizabeth pushed him from her back.
“Get off me! Help! Get off me!” She screamed. Suddenly he didn’t to move. He wrapped his arms around her and held her to him. “What are you doing?! You’re on fire. Oh God! I don’t wanna die!”
“That’s right, bitch! You’re gonna burn with me!” he yelled as the flames caught her hair. She must have had a lot of hair product on, as her head went up in a WHOOSH! She screamed and flailed as the fire slowly cooked both of them alive. Her eyeballs popped from the heat as her face sizzled and melted off her skull. For his last few moments of life, Steve forgot about the pain. All he could think about was his raging erection and how he wished he could fuck Elizabeth as they burned.
Chapter 13
Henry ran out of Sable’s apartment and to his car. He slammed the car door shut and gripped the wheel while trying to catch his breath.
“What the motherfucking fuck!” he screamed as he punched the wheel. He had her. She was right there, the NecroWitch, as Jimmy had called her. Was she immune to him? How was that possible? So far, his ability had worked on everybody. Except, she had been the only other person he’d run into with any kind of ability. He replayed the encounter in his head. The hand-job was amazing. Like seriously, toe-curlingly incredible. Her hands were so soft, and her touch just right at every step until he’d blown his load. He’d had many hand-jobs in his life, but this one was one for the books.
When he’d tried to use his gift on her, though, she’d just stood there and looked at him. For a minute he’d thought she was about to kick his ass. She probably could, too. She was in far better shape than he. Henry had never needed to be in any kind of shape, especially now. For whatever reason, his gift just didn’t work on her. He didn’t like that one bit. This would not do. He tried to imagine the things he could accomplish with her working for him. He wouldn’t even need to interrogate anyone, just kill them and turn her loose on their body.
He wondered if handling dead people’s insides were how her hands stayed so soft. The thought made him cringe, but he was pleased with the end result. He began to adjust his shirt when his phone rang. It was Jimmy.
“Jesus fuck!” Jimmy screamed.
“What?”
“The club, those fuckers burned it all down! It’s a mess. The whole place is gone, everyone is dead. There were over a hundred people inside!”
“Yes. I know.”
“You know? What the fuck?” Henry was sure Jimmy’s voice had just cracked.
“Yes. That’s why I didn’t go there tonight. I knew they were going to try and kill me. I had one of my drivers drop my car off outside. Now Beltran, and probably Esteban, will think I’m dead.”
“Jesus Christ, boss.”
“Is there a problem?”
“No. No sir. Just. Wow. I was just at the scene. It looks horrible and smells fucking worse, man.”
“Ok then. I’m headed back to the house. You can meet me there later if you want.”
“Ok, sure.”
Henry drove back to the mansion and headed inside. Instead of his office, he went into one of the rooms in the furthest wing of the home. It had previously been used for storage, but he’d found another purpose for it now. He stepped inside as his man stood and looked around. The woman and boy were against the wall hanging from meat hooks. The boy looked dazed while the woman just hung there sobbing.
“It’s ok,” he told his man. “You can step out for a few. I need to get some things out of my system.”
“No problem, boss.”
As the man stepped out, Henry looked them up and down. This was Kellen List’s wife and little boy. The woman looked up at him.
“Who are you?”
“I’m Henry. I’m the one doing this to you.”
“Why?”
“Well partly to make your husband do what I want. The other part is for fun. What is your name?”
“Debra Bergevin.”
“Well, Debra. I was going to hold off for a while on hurting you and your boy. I prefer to keep you around as leverage. But some things happened tonight that really got under my skin. So I need to blow off some steam. Unfortunately, I will be taking it all out on you.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
He was impressed at how she had stopped crying and was putting on a brave front. She glared at him defiantly.
“You got a lot of spirit. I like that.” He walked to a table in the corner and dragged it across the room. The thing made far more noise than he would have liked, almost echoing through the whole room as he scooted it just a few feet in front of them. “But what it means,” he said as he pulled the sheet off the table, revealing an assortment of tools, knives, and various other instruments. “Is that I’m going to hurt you really badly. And I mean it’s going to fucking hurt a lot.”
“Why don’t you go fuck yourself!” She screamed.
He turned and smiled.
“See? I like that.”
Then she spat in his face. Henry took a deep breath as he wiped his face with his sleeve. What he wanted to do was grab one of the knives and peel her face off, but not yet. He could easily use his power on them, but tonight’s mood called for something special. He turned to the table and looked at the tools as Debra began screaming insults at him. He closed his eyes, trying to focus.
There was a part of him that caused him to hesitate. That part of him was his old self. Before he ever got involved in any kind of crime.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” he said.
“Or what? You’re already going to kill us. You don’t have to, you know.”
“What do you mean?”
“What do you mean, what do I mean? You’re the one in charge. You’re in control. You could let us go, you could at least let my son go. You call the shots.”
“It’s not quite that simple. I’m not as in control as I may appear. A fear years ago I was engaged. Wonderful lady, too. Her name was Rebecca. I wanted to give her a big wedding, but I ran a shitty little pawn shop. So I started selling some pot on the side. I had my store customers, then my other customers. The money was good, but not great. Made a few hundred extra a week.” He picked up a knife and looked at it before setting it back down.
“So I started moving brown sugar. You know, heroin. Then the cash was pouring in. I mean holy shit. You’d be amazed who shoots up in this town. So I started making ar
rangements for the wedding when one day I stopped by Rebecca’s work to surprise her for lunch. You know what they tell me? They told me she quit her job two months ago! I mean am I fucking stupid? Two fucking months! So I hired a private investigator to have her followed. Turns out she’s banging some guy she used to work with. She figured I was making enough money now; she didn’t need to work. I worked a lot of hours, sure. So instead, she quits her job, doesn’t tell me, and each day she’s going to see her boyfriend. Even when he’s at work, she’s hanging out at his place like she fucking lives there. She cooked him dinner and everything. Fuck me. I was such an idiot.”
“An idiot for being fooled or for working so much?”
“Both, I guess,” he said.
“Did you hurt her? When you found out?”
“What? Oh no. No. No. I threw her out of the house. Told her to go stay with her stupid boyfriend. You know what is the funny part? A month later we found out he was married! Isn’t that some shit! His wife works for a pharmaceutical company and was out of town sometimes for weeks on end. Oh yeah. Stupid bitch.” He rubbed the back of his neck.
“So yeah, from there I just went full steam ahead into the criminal underworld. I mean, why not? I got money, I’m getting laid. But the guys I worked for, let me tell you. These were some scary fucking guys. You get even a little out of line, your money is even a little short one day, or they just don’t like the look on your face and you’re dead. Since I’m not Mexican I can’t actually join the cartel or any of the gangs around here unless I ride a motorcycle.”
“So, I pretty much resigned myself to never being more than a step or two above a street dealer. That is, until something weird happened.”
“What happened?” she asked. He was amazed at how calm she’d gotten while talking to him and hanging from a meat hook. He knew she was trying to humanize herself and her boy so he wouldn’t hurt them. At least this was somewhat therapeutic for him.
“I’m not sure, honestly. One day one of the kids who worked in my stock room dropped a TV. I mean this was a beautiful flat screen. Busted it to fucking pieces. This kid, like he’s in his twenties, I think; he’s all freaked out. I ran over to him like ‘what the fuck did you do?’ And had my hands up. I was pretty riled too. Not sure if it was my sudden burst of emotion or what, but suddenly I could see everything the kid was feeling. All the pain, fear and sorrow he’d ever felt. I knew all about him getting hit by a car as a kid, getting beat up at school and breaking his leg playing football.”
