by Amy Valenti
I opened the door and Erica was standing with her arms crossed and her brow furrowed. She glared at me for a minute before barging past me. I closed the door behind her and locked it.
“What’s up with you sleeping until nearly nine o’clock?” she demanded. “I tried texting you like a million times? You’ll be late for your nine-thirty class!”
“Oh, jeez, it’s that late?”
“You’re not even dressed!” she shrieked. She put her arms on my back and shoved me down the hallway saying, “I’ll make coffee. You go get ready.”
I entered my bedroom and eyed my bed longingly. Maybe I could just skip my first class and take a quick nap. But I passed by it and trudged into the bathroom to take a shower.
My hair was still dripping when I emerged from the bedroom wearing a pair of grungy sweatpants and no makeup. Erica’s jaw dropped and her eyes bulged.
“You’re not seriously going to class like that, are you?” she demanded.
“Fuck off,” I muttered, grabbing a mug and sloshing coffee into it.
I lifted it to my lips and began to gulp it down, oblivious to the fact that it was scalding hot and black.
“You’re drinking coffee black? God, Tori! It’s like you just stepped out of the Twilight Zone or something.”
“I’m running late,” I made an excuse. “No time to use cream and sugar. No time to argue.”
I grabbed my backpack from its place by the door and snatched up my purse. She hopped off the couch and followed me out the door, and I locked it behind us.
As we strolled to the bus stop, I closed my mind off to her incessant chatter and questions. She was nearly screaming at me by the time we got to our destination.
“Are you even listening to me?” she shouted, stepping in front of my and grabbing my shoulders.
“Not really.”
She rolled her eyes and groaned, letting me go, and I twisted my neck to look down the road for the bus. Not seeing it anywhere in sight, I plunked myself onto the bench to wait.
She sat down beside me and said, “Come on. Deets. Now.”
“Fine,” I said. “He took me to his private room, tied me up, gave me the most incredible orgasm of my life, and then drove me home.”
“That’s it?” she asked, her face awash with skepticism.
“Basically,” I shrugged.
“Wait,” Erica said. “You let him drive you home? So he knows where you live now?”
“Bad idea?”
“You’ve got it bad.”
“I do not,” I said. “I just didn’t feel like paying for a taxi.”
God, she was right. I was a truly horrible liar. The worst.
She crossed her legs and then crossed her arms, eyeing me with a tilted head. I could feel her eyes burning their way inside my head. Then she shook her head.
“Nope, you’re gone.”
“Erica, stop it,” I said. “It’s not like that.”
“You know your eye twitches when you lie,” she pointed out.
The sputtering roar of the bus alerted me that it was getting close, and I quickly hopped to my feet and adjusted the strap on my purse and backpack so they wouldn’t slide down my shoulder.
“You know, the only one you’re really lying to is yourself,” she mumbled.
Ignoring her, I grabbed the rail and hoisted myself up the steps of the bus and paid my fare. Damn. I hated it when she was right.
After class I barely had time to catch the bus home and change into my uniform before calling a cab to work. I rushed through the doors two minutes early and clocked in.
“Where have you been?” asked Rebecca, one of the servers.
“Long story,” I told her.
“You better be on your best behavior, because Schiller is here,” she whispered.
“Schiller?” I moaned. “Oh, shit.”
Mr. Schiller was the owner, and he could be a real douchebag. I imagined that since I’d been out of work several times lately, he’d be on the warpath.
“Miss Robertson.”
His voice had a gravelly nasal quality that grated on my nerves and sent chills down my spine. I turned to face his fat, red face, and his hideous black uni-brow arched upward.
“So nice of you to join us tonight, Miss Robertson. Would you care to step into my office for a moment?”
“Yes, sir,” I said through gritted teeth.
I followed him as he waddled through the kitchen toward his dumpy little office in the back. He grunted as he squeezed himself into his tiny office chair, and then motioned with his hand for me to have a seat across from him.
I closed the door and noticed the grim faces of the cooks and the dishwasher as they stared in my direction just before it shut. Then I took a seat.
“You’ve been out of work a lot lately,” he said, looking at a paper in a plain file folder. “Is there a problem we need to discuss?”
He tossed the folder onto the garbage pile he called his desk and leaned back, lacing his fingers behind his neck and staring at me with his beady black eyes. I glanced at his desk and noted multiple candy and snack wrappers littering the surface and I resisted the urge to scold him for being so messy. Then I remembered the disarray at my own apartment and the pile of clothes still unwashed in the bottom of my linen closet and decided I had little room to talk.
“No, sir,” I answered. “I’ve just been ill.”
“Miss Robertson, if there’s one thing I’ve learned in all my years owning various businesses throughout the city, it’s that if a model employee suddenly starts missing multiple shifts and doesn’t bring in a doctor’s excuse, there’s usually drugs involved.”
“Oh, no sir!” I said vehemently. “I never touch drugs. I never have, and I never will!”
“It’s funny, but that’s what they all say.”
“You can drug test me right now,” I said firmly. “I don’t do any kind of drugs, and I’ll pass any test you can throw at me. I barely even drink!”
“Miss Robertson, I need an explanation,” he said, picking up a pen and tapping it repeatedly on the folder in front of him. “Why did you not bring a doctor’s excuse?”
“Margie let me go home the other night because she saw how sick I looked,” I told him. “I don’t have insurance so I couldn’t afford to see a doctor.”
“Likely story,” he said. “I’m afraid I have no choice but to…”
The door swung open and a breathless Margie stormed into the room. She looked at me and then turned her eyes toward Mr. Schiller.
“Mr. Schiller, you can’t do this!” she shouted.
“Margie, don’t you interfere in…”
“Oh, hush!” she snapped, and he quickly closed his mouth. “Tori is the best waitress we’ve got, and if you let her go, you’re a fool!”
His squinty little eyes widened, and he went slack-jawed. He ran his sausage-like fingers through what was left of his stringy black hair.
“She can be replaced in a…”
“If she goes, I go!” Margie thundered, stomping her foot. “And you know there’s no way in hell you can find a replacement for me anytime soon! Not on the peanuts you pay!”
Mr. Schiller stuttered and stammered for a minute before finally saying, “Oh, fine! But if she has another unexcused absence in the next sixty days, you’re both terminated and I’ll bring my nephew in to run this place!”
He hoisted his rotund body from his chair and waddled toward the door, banging his knee sharply on the corner of the desk on the way and cursing under his breath. He slammed the door behind him, and Margie turned to me with a suppressed grin and snickered.
“Did you see his face?” Margie whispered.
I nodded, my face burning from repressed laughter. Seconds later, we both erupted into a fit of mirth.
“Oh, Margie, thank you!” I gasped, clutching my stomach with both arms.
“That overgrown wind bag is all talk, anyway,” she said, patting my shoulder. “And I meant it when I said you’r
e the best waitress we’ve got. If we lose you, this place will fall apart.”
“Thanks, Margie,” I said, standing up and hugging her. “Really. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she said. “Now get to work!”
I shot her a sassy grin and headed through the kitchen, where I was met with a round of applause from the kitchen crew, and Julio, the dishwasher, whistled proudly. I took a dramatic bow as I headed out the kitchen door to the floor to start my shift.
CHAPTER SEVEN
My shift was nearly over, and the bartenders were already wiping down the bar and putting away glasses when Rebecca approached me and said, “You have a new one-top over in the corner. Asked for you specifically.”
I stared at her for a moment and shrugged, heading to the corner booth. I was met with honey brown eyes, and I sucked in a breath.
“Victoria.”
“Gaius.”
“When does your shift end?” he asked.
“Fifteen minutes,” I told him. “But I still have to do cleanup.”
“I’ll have a Coke while I wait.”
I nodded, understanding the implication. I returned with his drink and set it on a paper coaster in front of him, pulling a straw from my apron and setting onto the table.
“Thank you,” he said.
I turned to walk away and he grabbed my wrist, saying, “Don’t keep me waiting.”
Never in my life had I rushed through cleanup so quickly. It was normally a boring task, and the other wait staff and I tended to chat a lot to try to hurry up the mundane tasks of wiping down booths and tables, refilling condiment containers, and cleaning the back bar. Tonight, I was on fire.
“I can finish this up if you have somewhere to be,” Rebecca said.
“Really? I’ll clean up for you next shift,” I told her.
“No need,” she said. “Just go.”
I hugged her quickly and took off my apron, clearing it out of tips and straws and tossing it into the corner.
“Thanks!” I whispered to her as I quickly clocked out.
As I approached his table, Gaius said, “That was fast. Good girl.”
He rose and turned to face me, and his stern expression sent a warm glow straight toward my loins. I saw the corner of his lip curl upward in a grin, and he reached out and took my hand, leading me out the front door to the parking lot where his car awaited us.
“Club Red?” I asked him as he opened the door for me.
“I think we’ll try something a little different tonight.”
I raised one eyebrow at him, wondering what he meant and where we might be going. I sat in silence with my hands folded in my lap as we drove toward downtown.
He pulled up to the curb at Club Red, and I opened my mouth to object. For one thing, he’d said he would try something different tonight. For another thing, I was hardly dressed for the club. I was still wearing my work uniform. But he stepped out of the car and closed the door before I could speak.
He spoke briefly to the valet, handing him his car keys. Then he opened my door and extended his hand to me. I took it, and he pulled me out.
“We’re going in the back way,” Gaius told me.
I breathed a sigh of relief, but my face still burned with embarrassment when a group of girls waiting in line to get in noticed me in my uniform and started pointing and snickering.
“Problem ladies?” Gaius called to them, gripping my hand firmly as he led me around the corner.
They all immediately quieted, and Gaius squeezed my hand comfortingly as we rounded the corner into the darkened back lot.
The valet met us around back and used his key to open the back door. Gaius placed his hand on the small of my back and urged me inside. He followed, and the door swung shut behind us.
The back hallway was eerily quiet. The only sounds came from the reverberating echo of our footsteps and the very dull beat that came from far, far down the corridor.
He led me through a twisting maze of corridors, past a number of doors that must have led into awfully small rooms, as they were quite close together. I heard a door creak open down one offshoot hallway and I could hear the sound of leather on skin and a woman shrieked. I jerked involuntarily, and Gaius tightened his grip on my hand.
The walls were painted black. The floor and ceiling were black. And in these back hallways, the lighting was dimmer than that corridor on which Gaius’s room was situated. It made me feel anxious.
The music grew louder, and finally I recognized that we were nearly there. We turned left onto Gaius’s hall and he unlocked the room and led me inside. I instantly relaxed.
“I’m sorry if you were frightened back there,” Gaius said, finally releasing my hand.
“I’m fine,” I said, but it wasn’t entirely the truth. I changed the subject and asked, “Do you mind if I freshen up?”
“The bathroom is an en suite,” he answered. “You may use it to shower and do whatever else you need to get ready.”
“Thank you,” I said.
I found my way into the bathroom, which was surprisingly lavish. There was a large garden tub, jetted, a separate shower, dual vanity with a huge mirror and…. Was that a set of shackles on the shower wall? I shuddered, but I undressed quickly, eager to see what Gaius had in store this time.
I stepped into the shower and began to rinse off. There was a bottle of masculine scented shower gel, which I used to wash away the grime from my shift at the restaurant. When I started to step out of the shower, Gaius was waiting for me. He was nude and already erect, and my eyes traveled straight to his manhood.
“Stay inside,” he warned me.
I obeyed. He stepped into the small glass stall with me and pinned me against the wall with his body, placing his arms on either side of me and caging me with his arms. He bent his head to lick away an errant droplet of water that slid down over my collarbone. Then his hands found my waist and slid upward, pushing my arms above my head and trapping them in the shackles.
Wait, did he plan this? Is this why he picked me up from work… because he knew I’d want to shower before we spent any real time together? Oh well, it didn’t matter. I could already feel myself growing warm with the glow of anticipation.
One my hands were shackled above me, his hands slid back down my arms to grope my breasts. He fondled them gently at first, and then with increasing intensity. I could tell his eyes were feasting on them ravenously, and his mouth soon followed.
A surge of electricity zapped me the moment his lips wrapped around my nipple and he began to suck. I moaned softly and lifted one leg up, wrapping it around his waist as he flicked his tongue up and down over the rigid pink peak.
One hand slid down over my belly and slipped between my legs, and he cupped my pubic mound and squeezed. I was dying for him to probe between my lips with his fingers, but he resisted.
He dropped to his knees slowly, tasting bits of my skin on his way down with lips, his tongue, and his teeth. He nipped at my navel and licked his way downward, causing me to purr softly as my leg rested over his shoulder.
Gaius finally parted my lips and buried his head between my thighs. I gasped the moment his tongue snaked between my lips and brushed lightly over my swollen clit, which was peeking from its hood and begging for more. He pushed two fingers inside me and curled them as if beckoning me to cum.
I could feel droplets of water still trickling down my skin, sending prickly tickles across my flesh as he sucked on my throbbing bundle of nerves and flicked at it without his tongue. His two fingers began to fuck me, and he growled with eager lust, vibrating against my clit and causing me to emit a squeak of joy.
“I could eat you all damn day,” he said, his tongue swirling in circles around my clit.
My hands gripped the cold, hard iron of my shackles, and my legs began to tremble. He took my clit between his lips and began to suck it fiercely as his fingers banged me like a small cock, hitting the perfect spot to send a jolt of orgasmic bliss hurtling throu
gh my body like a fiery meteor with each and every thrust.
“Oh, god!” I screamed. “Gaius, I’m cumming!”
“Cum, baby!” he urged me. “Cum hard!”
My mouth opened wide and I let out a long, low moan as my whole body convulsed with an intense, clenching orgasm that took over my body and left me unable to think or speak.
In one deft motion, he hopped to his feet and his cock pushed up between my legs and buried itself inside me. He pulled my legs around his waist and pushed me firmly against the cold shower wall and began to pound his way deeper and deeper. My orgasm had not been interrupted by this motion, and it continued as he slammed himself into me. It mounted and built like a perfect symphony, and he snagged a fistful of my hair and tugged it sharply with each thrust.
“Oh, fuck, baby,” he groaned. “Your pussy is cumming all over my cock.”
I could actually feel the rhythmic contractions of my tunnel clenching around his hardness, milking the cum from him as he began to pulse inside me. There was no ecstasy in the world that could rival this, and I closed my eyes and allowed the sensations to carry me away as released inside me.
Finally, he lowered my feet to the shower floor and slipped out of me. I felt his cum dribbling down the inside of my thigh. He unshackled me with the key that hung on a chain just outside the shower door.
“Shower again,” he ordered me. “The night has only just begun.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
I did as Gaius asked, showering once again and washing away the evidence of our encounter in the shower. I found a clean, white terrycloth robe hanging on a hook, and I wrapped it around my body.
I expected to find him in the bedroom waiting for me, but when I didn’t, I entered the living area and found him standing nude in the kitchen drinking amber liquid from a small glass.
He appeared to be lost in thought, and I approached him and laid my hands on his shoulders. His muscles tensed immediately as if he were startled, but he quickly relaxed upon noticing it was me.
“I’ve been thinking,” he said, his voice low and deliberately.
“Oh?”
