Bender

by M. Stratton

  “Then what are you going to do?”

  He stretched and moved, she wanted to be able to see him clearly, but didn’t want to turn the light on and ruin the moment.

  “Head south, maybe buy a small bar somewhere on some tropical island and just disappear.”

  “That sounds kind of lonely.”

  “Lady, I’ve spent all my adult life surrounded by people wanting things from me; a hammock and a tropical breeze is all I’m looking for.” He picked his Kindle back up and turned it on. “And a good book.” He waved it at her before he turned his attention back to it.

  It would seem the conversation was over. She thought about everything he said, and what he didn’t, while watching his chest rise and fall rhythmically. Before she knew it, her eyes were drooping again and she couldn’t keep them open.

  Mick heard the buzzer for the front door. He knew Nutter was closer so he flipped a switch on the control panel and listened as Nutter answered the door.

  “Well, well, well, look what we have here. It would be my pleasure to help you in any way you may need.”

  By the sound of Nutter’s voice, Mick new it was an attractive female at the door and he swung his chair around so he could see who it was. She was tall and thin with dark brown hair loosely curled that fell half way down her back. She was wearing a black pencil skirt, which accentuated her nicely rounded ass and a tight blue silk blouse, which set off her skin tone nicely. She gave a low, throaty laugh when she passed by Nutter, and Mick sat up a little straighter at her sky-high fuck-me shoes.

  “Hello, my name is Antoinette Fairbanks.” She held a hand out to him. He grabbed her hand and Mick was able to see a unique snake ring on her pointer finger when Nutter turned her hand over to kiss the back of it. “I’m looking for Mick Controne and Lawrence Goodwin.”

  “Fuck,” Mick said. He was on his feet immediately and moving as quickly as possible out of his office and down the stairs to where he knew Nutter was going to be losing it. They just had the rugs cleaned after the last time someone called him Lawrence. He skidded to a stop, surprised she was still standing here, alive. “Oh, excuse me. Can I help you?”

  “Well, look here, two handsome men, this is my lucky day. Am I in the presence of both Mr. Controne and Mr. Goodwin?”

  Mick decided he needed to take over. If he could control the cleanup, it would make things easier since they were still looking for Stormy and Bender. The last thing they needed was to have to figure out what to do with a messy spontaneous kill. If history were to repeat itself, all of Nutter’s kills when someone called him the wrong name were messy.

  “It must be your lucky day; I’m Mick Controne.” He held his hand out hoping Nutter would let hers go, and it worked. After shaking her hand, he placed his hand on the small of her back and led her to the kitchen. He wished he had Nutter’s view of her; he could feel the sway of her hips under his hand. “Please have a seat.” He gestured to the tall stools at the counter, where there were no rugs around. So if Nutter took a knife to her, they wouldn’t have that mess to clean up.

  “We’re pretty casual around here.” He watched and appreciated as she climbed up on the stool and gracefully crossed her legs, her skirt riding up. “Now, what can we do for you, Ms . . .”

  “Fairbanks, Miss Fairbanks.”

  “Miss, well, I must say, that is very nice to know. What can we do for you, Miss Fairbanks?” Mick was hoping to find out why she was here and more about her before Nutter killed her. It was just a matter of time now and it would be better if he could get information out of her before she couldn’t talk anymore.

  She placed her large bag on the counter and pulled out a file. “I’ve been hired by a firm in Chicago to see about purchasing some buildings you own here.” She flipped the file open and began to sort through the papers.

  Nutter slid up to her and moved a stool closer to her. Sitting on the stool, he had her between his legs. Placing his hand on the small of her back, he peeked over her shoulder appearing to look at her papers. However, Mick could see Nutter’s eyes were looking at her tits, which were just about overflowing from her blouse. That might be the only thing keeping her alive right now. Nutter wanted to fuck her before he killed her.

  Mick stood on the other side of the counter from her. “Which properties exactly?”

  She flashed a huge smile at him. “All of them. The firm I represent wanted you to know they are very serious in their offer and hope you will at least hear them out.”

  Smiling at her, Mick tried to hide his anger and looked over at Nutter. He relaxed a little bit seeing the clarity in Nutter’s eyes, and knew they were on the same page. While Miss Fairbanks would be dead soon, Nutter would at least wait until after they gathered the information they needed, and he had fucked her. “Shall we see what you have?” He held his hand out for the papers.

  He quickly scanned the papers before handing them to Nutter. “Those are some serious numbers, and far above market value.”

  “Yes, well, as I said, they really want your property.”

  “Who exactly are ‘they’?” He walked over to the refrigerator, took out some brie and berries, and placed the plate in front of her. “Would you like some champagne?” He turned and waved an expensive bottle in front of her.

  “Oh, I shouldn’t.” Her eyes shone with eagerness.

  “Of course you should.” He expertly popped the cork and smiled when she clapped her hands. “This would be a very big deal, wouldn’t it?”

  She licked her lips. “Yes, it would.”

  “Do you mind if I take a closer look at this?” Nutter leaned in and asked softly in her ear.

  Turning her head, they were almost nose to nose. Mick watched as her breathing became heavier. “No, not at all.” Her words came out a whisper.

  “Excellent.” He tucked her hair behind her ear. “I won’t be long.” He got up and walked upstairs to their office.

  Mick knew exactly what he was doing, research on Miss Fairbanks and the company who wanted them out. His job was to get her to relax and let down her guard. She was already smitten with Nutter, so it wasn’t going to take much. She kept looking up the stairs where he disappeared. Since she was distracted, wanting him to come back, she let a few interesting items slip, which Mick was sure she didn’t think were important, but they were to him. He was quickly and quietly gathering all the information he needed in order to make sure her disappearance wasn’t going to lead back to them. Or if it did, they’d know what to say.

  “You know I lost my parents when I was young also,” Mick told her. It was a lie, but she didn’t need to know that. “I was lucky I had my aunt and uncle who were willing to take me in.”

  Her eyes swung slowly back to him as he refilled her glass for the third time. “I didn’t have anyone.” She had a slight slur to her words. “My friends have all gotten married and deserted me. All I have now is my cat.”

  “Did you know Mr. Goodwin is a cat person?” When she shook her head, he continued. “You’ll have to ask him about it. He takes care of all the neighborhood cats around here. He has a really soft heart where they’re concerned.”

  “Awww . . . he looks so . . .” He saw the chills run through her body and knew she’d be putty in Nutter’s hands. “Animalistic.”

  As if on cue, Nutter descended the stairs and strode toward Miss Fairbanks. He never took his eyes off hers, but Mick knew he’d found what he wanted, and it wouldn’t be long before Nutter would be playing his own game of cat and mouse.

  “Sorry I was gone for so long, beauty.” He sat down on the stool with her between his legs again and lifted her hand and turning it over kissed the inside of her wrist. “I was having a hard time concentrating on anything but you.” Nutter pushed the sleeve of her blouse up and continued to kiss up her arm. He looked up at her. “I’ve been wondering if you taste as good as you look. You don’t mind, do you?”

  Without breaking eye contact, she shook her head. A grin spread across Nutter’s face.
“Mick, you don’t mind if Miss Fairbanks and I . . . spend a little time . . . alone?” He used his other hand and forcefully pulled her stool closer to him.

  “Of course not. I’ll just take my time and look over these papers.” Mick grabbed the whole folder out from under her nose and went up the stairs to their office. Once there, he closed the door, sat down in the chair, and got comfortable for the show. Since there were cameras and microphones all over the place, he wasn’t going to miss anything.

  “Tell me, beauty, what’s your favorite color?” Nutter was kissing the side of her neck. “I need to know everything about you.”

  “Blue . . .” She could barely keep her breathing calm. “Royal blue.”

  “Oh, like your blouse? It’s so soft. Do you ever go braless in it? The softness rubbing against your nipples?” Slowly, Nutter freed each button, stopping at her waist. He deftly hooked a finger under the strap of her bra and pushed it off her shoulder, sliding his finger down he freed her tit from the cup and ran his finger across her nipple before moving to the other side and doing the same thing. “That feels good, doesn’t it, beauty?”

  Soft mews rose from her throat as she hiked her skirt up and climbed on top of Nutter’s lap. Slowly, he finished unbuttoning her blouse, making sure the material moved over her nipples before he caught one between his teeth, the fabric protecting her skin from his nips. He swiveled in the stool and easily lifted her on the counter and buried his head between her legs.

  It still amazed Mick how quickly women would go from strong, independent, ‘don’t tell me what to do’ creatures to giggling schoolgirls around Nutter.

  Mick switched camera angles to get a better view of what was going on. He watched as Nutter reached up and slowly untied the silk belt she had wrapped around her waist a few times, letting it drag across her body. Nutter stood up and with a guttural roar ripped his shirt off, buttons flying across the room. At her squeal, Mick knew it was over; she was completely Nutter’s.

  Nutter made quick work of getting both of them naked and using the silk belt to wrap around her neck a few times before having it cross her tits. Bending her over the counter, Nutter started pounding into her using the belt to control her and bring her back harder onto his cock.

  Mick unbuttoned his pants and started stroking himself. He knew it wasn’t going to be much longer. The harder and faster Nutter pounded Miss Fairbanks, the harder and faster Mick stroked himself until they were both in rhythm with each other.

  With Miss Fairbanks’s hoarse screams filling the air, Mick could see her starting to struggle for air as Nutter pulled tighter and tighter on the belt wrapping more and more around his fist like a cowboy would as he rode a bucking bronco. As her tits flopped around and smacked the counter repeatedly, her fingers started clawing at the belt and her feet were lifted off the ground with each powerful thrust. Nutter would bring her to the brink and then back off, continuing his game of cat and mouse. Slow it down, allow her to breathe, arrange the belt differently, then tighten it back up, and thrust powerfully into her dripping wet pussy, never allowing her to come.

  “Never. Call. Me. Lawrence. No. One. Ever. Calls. Me. Lawrence.” He punctuated each word by ramming harder and harder into her while pulling the belt tighter and tighter.

  The end was nearing as her face turned purple and her eyes bulged. Nutter looked up into the camera Mick was watching. When his breathing come faster, he placed his free hand on the center of her back, and with one last wrap of the silk belt around his fist, and he yanked as hard as he could. Her head was tilted at an odd angle as both Nutter and Mick came, their cries of release coming from different rooms in the building.

  The sun was setting as Mick climbed out onto the fire escape to find Nutter feeding the neighborhood cats.

  “Here kitty, kitty. Get your meaty bits . . . Oh, yeah . . . you love your meaty bits, don’t you? Who wants some meaty bits?” Nutter cut another piece of meat off the leg sitting next to him. He smiled up at Mick. “The cats are eating good this week.”

  “Yes, they are. We should be so lucky.”

  “You know, Mick, we were born in the wrong time.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Well, you know I love all the technology, but there was something to say for the Renaissance . . . when size two wasn’t the popular thing to be.”

  “She wasn’t a stick, Nutter; there was plenty of good meat on her. You’ve just gotten spoiled.”

  “Yes, I have. Did you see what I found?”

  “I did.”

  “Lucky we are meat eaters; it seems like we’re going to be stocking our freezer very soon.”

  “Very soon indeed.”

  As they drove to her bookstore in a SUV that had been left for Bender to use, Stormy’s stomach began to tighten more and more. She wasn’t stupid; this wasn’t the best neighborhood to begin with. You never let your guard down and you never felt completely safe. In her bookstore, she always had, but not anymore; now she was jumping at every little noise and scared of every shadow. Bender had a plan; exactly what, he wouldn’t share. Why they were going back to where people were looking for them—she shook her head—it really made no sense to her.

  “Tell me why; why are we doing this?”

  “Because we aren’t going to hide; besides, I figure in another day or two, you are going to be itching to be back here. You’re going to be thinking about the kids and worrying they have nothing to read.”

  When she didn’t say anything, he looked over at her and she shrugged. “Well, maybe . . . Okay, fine, yes. But you know what it’s like when you run out of something to read. Then you add in not having extra money for a new book. Yeah, I’d be itching to be back here.”

  “Maybe, my ass. You’d find some way to come back here to help them. Mick and Nutter really won’t be expecting us to come back this quickly. Plus, I can get everything set up at your place, go to the bar, get some extra supplies, and then we can head to your condo. After that, we’ll find somewhere new to hold up. What happened to the old library?”

  “It burned down a couple of years ago. Of course, no one wants to spend the money to replace it in this neighborhood. Then people start flinging around words like e-readers and online, and funding for a library here will never happen. They just don’t understand the joy an actual book can bring to a child. Something they can hold in their hands; something I can help make theirs, to keep. Something like that would mean so much to them.”

  “You’re right; it will,” Bender said quietly. “Sometimes it’s the only thing a kid can hold onto.”

  He pulled up, stopped on the quiet street in front of her bookstore, and turned to her. “Ready?”

  Biting her lip and looking around she turned her gaze back to him and nodded.

  “Let’s go.”

  They both got out of the car and she kept to his side just as he told her to. Her keys were already out so she quickly unlocked the gate and her door. She’d gone over it in her head a thousand times; telling herself not to rush, just to go ahead, methodically thinking the whole time of the step she was on, not what was coming next or who might leap out of the shadows at them.

  “Breathe.”

  The deep rumble of his voice and his warm presence behind her helped to make her feel at ease. He was there for her; he’d protect her.

  “It’s like they say in the movies, it’s quiet, too quiet.”

  “Letting your imagination run away with you will not help anything.”

  “Tell me I’m wrong.”

  “Get us inside first.”

  “See, I’m right.”

  “Stormy.”

  With a final click, she opened the door and rushed in, her eyes darting around to see if anything was wrong. She jumped when the boom of a vehicle backfiring on the street filled the silence of the store. Quickly she looked at Bender. If he had been laughing at her, he hid it before she fully turned around. She walked over to the counter and started her workstation. While she waited for it
to boot up, she checked her voice mail and noticed there were four hang-ups. Taking out a pen, she noted the time; they were all during the day, except for one, which was about ten o’clock last night.

  “So, what exactly are you going to do?” She knew what he said, but since they were actually in the bookstore now, she was hoping he’d give her more details.

  “Upgrade your alarm system, add some components.”

  “You said that already, I was hoping for a little more information. This is my building after all.”

  His head whipped up. “This is your building? You’re not renting?”

  “No, I bought it outright. The price was good and I wasn’t worried about the return on investment. To me, I’m investing in the community. Why does that seem so surprising to you?”

  “Nothing.”

  She crossed her arms and started tapping her foot. “You’ve done research on me, haven’t you?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “Elaborate.” When he just stared at her, she sighed and continued. “We can stand here all night staring at each other, and you won’t be able to go get what you need from the bar before dark; or you can just tell me what you know.”

  “I’ve done research on the buildings around here. There seem to be two main corporations that own the properties; one of them owns this building.”

  “Yes, that is one of my companies, Twelfth Day.”

  “I should have figured it out.” He shook his head. “Shakespeare, Twelfth Night. But you own more than just this building.”

  “Yes, I do. I told you I’m investing in this community.”

  “Why?”

  “Because sometimes it only takes one person to make a difference. If one person cares, then the next will, and so on and so on. It’s been slow going. I’ve been trying to fix the buildings up and then sell them, or rent them depending on the situation, but not everyone wants a place around here. I’m hoping once I’ve got some more buildings, it’ll start making a difference.”