by Chal, Bella
“That was yummy,” Cathy said as she licked the sticky mess off her fingers.
“Do you think you could go again?” Camden asked before cleaning his head with her tongue.
“Greedy,” Cathy laughed at her question.
“I start a new job tomorrow,” Kurt said and glanced at the bedside clock that read midnight. “I mean today. Otherwise, you’d have to throw me out.”
“I suppose I can wait until this weekend if I have to. How do both your Sunday afternoons look?” Cathy asked them with wide eyes.
“I have no plans that I know of,” Kurt answered as both of them snuggled up on each side of him. “Why don’t you pencil me in?”
“Then it’s a date,” Camden said and kissed his cheek.
* * *
Kurt crept into the house without turning on any lights and made his way to the couch. Someone had put his usual sheets and pillows on it for him, so he sat down to take off his shoes. He saw Charlotte creep into the dark room by the street lights shining in through the window.
“Did you have fun?” she whispered with a playful tone to her voice.
“I’ll need to say about a hundred Our Father’s just to be allowed into the confessional,” Kurt whispered back.
“It was interesting after you left,” she said as she sat in the overstuffed chair next to the couch.
“If it’s about Polly, I don’t even care,” Kurt whispered with a deep chuckle. “I’m utterly spent, Sis. I’d tell you about it, but you’d never believe me.”
“It was just sex, how wild could it be?”
“Seriously, I could write a porno. They were amazing.”
“They?” she gasped. “I thought you were going out with Julie’s friend Cathy?”
“Oh, I did. And her roommate. They couldn’t decide who liked me more, so they shared me.”
“Stop making things up, I’m serious.”
“So am I,” he hissed through his laughter. “I don’t care if you believe me or not!”
“Fine, then I won’t tell you what I heard,” she said as she got up to leave. “Don’t forget to set your alarm.”
Kurt chuckled as she left, but did set the alarm on his phone. Then he went to sleep with a smile on his face.
* * *
Kurt awoke feeling refreshed and invigorated. The memory of his adventures and the prospect of getting back on the water came together like a perfect storm. He packed some work clothes in his duffel for the long delivery run and was out the door in plenty of time to beat Mr. Tidewell to the dock.
Bo Tidewell was a huge man. Well over six feet tall and nearly as wide; his arms were as big as most men’s thighs. It didn’t take him long to mention his brief NFL career or his bad knees, but Kurt decided he liked him immediately.
The Tres Jolie was a larger ship than his favorite St. Marie back in Morgan City, but wasn’t the largest one he’d helmed. It had two small decks under the pilot house at the back, with a large open cargo hold in front. It had already been fully loaded and was ready for the delivery run when he arrived.
After a brief introduction to the other crew members, Bo took Kurt under his wing to quiz his knowledge as they prepared the ship for its run. The prelaunch checklist was his first job and Kurt slipped into the accustomed leadership mode he’d practiced for years. Running the crew through each item, double-checking everything, filling out the appropriate forms. After years of working around his dyslexia with his Uncle, he had confidence he’d done it correctly.
Bo reviewed the forms, spot checked the ship to verify his work, and then handed Kurt another stack of forms. “Good so far. I know it seems like make work, but I’d like you to double check that what we’ve got on board. The warehouse manager signed off on it and he’s pretty good, but nothing makes me happier than giving him shit for missing something. Plus it’ll get you more familiar with the ship.”
“Aye-aye,” he said and left to begin the boring work of ticking-and-tying the manifest against the crates and other equipment. The manifest included a ton of extra details that Uncle Charlie never put on his. He said he liked to keep the paperwork simple to make the errors stand out for dummies like himself.
So as Kurt puzzled out the inventory and location markers on the ship, he noticed something odd. The ship was delivering equipment from four different vendors. One was Deep Drilling Supplies, Jack’s company. The others were MJP Engineering, Coastal Mechanical, and a wholesale food distributor called Real Meals. Each item on the list included the base shipping rate as a cost-per-ton average. MJP was five cents per ton, two of the others were ten cents, but all the items for Deep Drilling had a base rate of twenty-two cents per ton.
Kurt knew the base rate for shipping by truck because of his father. It was around thirty-five cents per ton, much higher than typical nautical rates. His Uncle Charlie only had one customer he hated enough to charge twelve cents, but that was because he’d cheated him at cards once. He was lucky Uncle Charlie didn’t feed him to the sharks instead.
It took most of the day to climb around the hold to check the numbers on all the crates, and when he returned to the pilot house he was a filthy mess. Bo looked up when he entered with a big grin.
“I can’t believe you actually did it,” he said and shook his head. “I sat up here and watched you climb over every goddamn box in the hold. I don’t know what kind of pilot you are, but you are a helluva good worker.”
“Thanks, sir,” Kurt said as he wiped his hands on his coveralls. “The counts were spot on. The only thing I found odd was the base shipping rates. I ain’t never seen no twenty-two cents a ton for anything on a ship before. Those boxes from Deep Drilling full of nuclear waste or something?”
“Naw,” Bo said as he looked back out the window at the bay. “The boss got some new business partner who didn’t want to do business with Deep Drilling anymore, but damned if those sorry bastards didn’t select our bid anyway.”
“Seriously? Why would anyone pay that much?” Kurt asked, hoping he’d share some more gossip.
“Something fishy, I think,” Bo said with a significant look. “I know Evan and he wasn’t happy about the whole thing, but we needed the cash for some overdue maintenance.”
“Is that also how MJP Engineering got their cut rate?” Kurt asked with a sly smile.
“No comment,” Bo said with a grin. “I prolly already said too much. Stick that paperwork back in the rack over there on the bulkhead and go take a nap. I’m gonna let you take the evening shift at the wheel.”
“Aye-aye, sir,” Kurt said and headed back to his bunk with a big grin on his face. Uncle Jack’s gonna be real interested in that, he thought on the way down the ladder.
Chapter 9: Polly
The cold autumn rain didn’t affect her mood at all as Polly pulled into Julie’s driveway after work. The last two nights had been eye opening for her. She’d always considered the sexual experiences with her previous lovers good, but after being thoroughly fucked by Trey she finally understood what that phrase meant.
He was careful, but not gentle. When she wanted him to use force or test her boundaries, he seemed to understand it intuitively. It was so satisfying to let him take control, and as she began to trust him more, her fears about being with him seemed to fade away.
She got out of the car and dashed into the porch to keep from getting too wet. The door opened before she could ring the doorbell and Julie put her finger over her lips and led her inside.
In a rare moment, all three of the kids were sound asleep on the couch while a cartoon played quietly on the television. Julie grinned at her and tip-toed past her slumbering family into the kitchen. When they got there, Julie asked, “Want some coffee?”
“Love some,” Polly said as she put her purse down on the counter. “Where’s Charlotte?”
“Interviewing down at Ben Taub. She and Kurt are serious business when they’re supposed to be on vacation.”
“Good for her,” Polly said as she took the mug from Juli
e. “I’m looking forward to our girls’ night out on Friday. I’ve hardly spent any time with her since she got here.”
“Gee, I wonder why?” Julie asked after taking a sip of her mug.
The comment made her grin and blush like they were still in high school. “Yeah,” she sighed.
“And you gave me shit about me and Jack!”
“So,” she said with mock indignation. “I owe you, like, a year of it!”
“Planning on a year already,” Julie teased. “That was quick.”
“I’m not planning on anything,” she said, but couldn’t lie. Taking another sip and leaning against the counter she whispered, “But I am hoping.”
Julie nodded like she already suspected it. “You’ll have to call me Aunt Julie.”
“Fuck you,” she said with a laugh.
Charlotte came in the garage door with a broad smile. “Hey Polly!” After a quick embrace she said to Julie, “Thanks again for letting me borrow your minivan for the interview.”
“So how’d it go?” Julie asked.
“The lady who interviewed me was so nice. I was terrified they’d ask me a bunch of medical questions or give me a test, but we just chatted away. She did ask about the classes I’ve taken and what my GPA might be when I graduate, but I think it went great.”
“That’s awesome,” Polly said. “Is this for the surgical position you wanted?”
“Not immediately, but it’s should give me enough experience to work toward it. She actually showed me a kind of roadmap of positions see how they give people a career path over time. Obviously, they are huge compared to Lafayette General, but I was blown away by the options they had.”
“So when will you know something?” Julie asked.
“She said early next month. Since I won’t be starting right away, they aren’t in a hurry this close to Christmas.” She gave them both a wicked smile. “And I haven’t even told you the best part yet.”
“What could be better than getting your dream job?” Polly asked with a cocked eyebrow.
“Christopher Dunlop, Social Worker. Oh my god, what a hunk! He was there interviewing for a position as well. He’s a little older, but I didn’t ask how much. Graduated from Baylor Medical after serving in the Marines, and made a point to give me his number before I left.” She waved a little slip of paper at them both.
Polly and Julie both laughed out loud. “So are you gonna see him again while you’re in town?” Julie asked. “Maybe we could invite him over for New Years? Then Polly and I can shake him down to see if he’s good enough for you.”
Blushing bright red, she said, “That might be fun. We’ll see after I call him in a day or two.”
“Damn, love is in the air,” Julie said as she shook her head. “First, Polly and Trey, then Kurt and Cathy, now Charlotte and Christopher.”
“Did you hear anything from Cathy?” Charlotte asked with a smirk. Polly felt her stomach clench at the thought of Kurt being with her friend, but pushed it away as foolishness. She was happy with Trey.
“She texted me earlier for your parent’s address,” Julie said through a chuckle.
“Why?” Charlotte asked with a confused expression.
“Apparently she wanted to send them flowers,” Julie said with a droll delivery.
Polly got it then and rolled her eyes. “Jeez, it was just sex.”
“Uh, it may have been a little more than that,” Charlotte hinted with a knowing glance. “Does Cathy have a roommate?”
“Camden, sure, she’s going with us on Friday...” Julie’s mouth hung open as Charlotte nodded slowly to confirm it. “Both of them?”
“He said I wouldn’t believe him. I guess it really happened, then?” Charlotte asked with a deep blush.
Polly felt a cold shock as she realized what they meant. “Oh my god,” she said as her stomach clenched again, making her feel jealous and angry for no reason. She knew Cathy was a wild one, but the topics of threesomes had never come up around Polly before.
“Now I get her comments,” Julie exclaimed. “She kept on about his stamina being enough for two and his... uh... large family trait. Holy crap!”
Polly silently finished off her coffee as Charlotte and Julie continued to chat. Then she made her exit as soon as she could.
* * *
Later that evening, Polly shut the lid on her laptop, picked up the glass of wine and carried it over to her couch. After leaving Julie’s house, she’d caught up on her laundry and given the apartment a thorough cleaning. With her chores done, she took a shower, idled some time away on the Internet to keep from thinking, and then decided to have a little private moment before Trey arrived.
The satin nightie she had on felt wonderful against her skin, and the matching panties were loose and cool. She put her wine glass down on the coffee table and then reclined against the tall arm of the couch. Dragging her fingers around her breasts, she shut her eyes to focus on how it felt when Trey had been with her.
The vision of his face above hers appeared in her imagination. His sweat soaked brow dripped on her face, letting her taste his essence as he worked for her pleasure. With her hands sliding under her panties, she imagined it was his fingers that opened and penetrated her.
Slipping her middle two fingers inside, she rubbed herself with the other hand, making slow circles around her swollen nub. It made it so much better to imagine Trey was doing it, so she focused on that, seeing him lower himself to kiss her. The pulsing ache of her release gripped her hard, making her strain into her hands.
“Oh, yes,” she mumbled as the aftershocks from her strong orgasm made her tremble. When they finally passed, she straightened her nightgown and reached for her wine. The warm glow she felt made her wish Trey was already there to snuggle with, but drowsing turned to sleeping which left her in troubled dreams until after midnight.
When the quiet knock woke her, she got up to glance through the peep hole to confirm it was Trey before opening the door. He had a sheepish grin that widened as his eyes traveled from her face to feet.
“Sorry I’m so late,” he said as he stepped inside. He was dressed up like he’d been out, with his cologne fighting the scent of cigarettes and alcohol.
“I fell asleep waiting,” Polly said as she yawned. Ignoring the sting of disappointment, she locked the door, turned off the lights, and led him to bed. They’d planned for him to stay over all night since Polly had a later shift the next day.
“You look great,” he said as he rubbed her ass through her satin nightie.
“So what kept you?” she asked as she climbed into her bed and waited for him to undress.
He sat his phone, keys, and wallet down on the night stand. “I forgot about a holiday dinner at my frat. I couldn’t skip it,” he said as he sat on the bed to take off his dress shoes. His pants and shirt came off next as he moved to fold them and place them on her dresser. He was already at half mast, she noticed with a grin, and a large spot of precum was visible on his boxers.
“You look a little pent up,” she teased, nodding at the stain.
He blushed and quickly took off his underwear, placing it on the top of his clothes. “Yeah,” he said, a frown appearing then quickly disappearing. “Are you too sleepy?” he asked, his tone seeming to imply he might be.
“Just come to bed and snuggle with me,” she said.
He turned off the lights and came to bed, rolling over to face her, then pulling her close. His soft shaft pressed against her stomach as she kissed him tenderly, letting the moment lead where it would. When he kissed to her neck, she caught a fragrant scent in his hair she couldn’t place. “You smell nice,” she whispered.
“Uh, thanks,” he said as his hands squeezed along her back and ass. “You smell nice, too,” he said as he rolled her on her back to kiss down to her nipples through the satin.
While he played with her breasts, she mussed his hair and watched him with a renewed sense of peace. Who cares how many girls Kurt was with anyway? “That
feels nice,” she mumbled. He pushed the fabric over to suck one nipple between his lips, massaging it with his hand at the same time. His shaft was now firmly poking into her side.
His cell phone beeped, making him sigh as he rolled over to get it off the nightstand. The screen was bright in the dim bedroom, but Polly saw him swipe the numeral three across the glass to unlock it. After scanning the text message, Trey turned off the phone completely and put it back. “Wrong number,” he muttered.
Polly hadn’t really been looking, but the text log she glanced at had showed a number of existing back and forth messages. It bothered her a little that he would lie about something so trivial, but before she could ask him anything he began kissing her deeply enough to burn away all other thoughts.
Rather than take off her panties, Trey moved the fabric aside to reach her wet lips. She began to pull at him, impatient to have him inside, so he rolled on top and moved her legs apart. In seconds he was fully inside, driving her wild with kisses when she realized he wasn’t wearing a condom. “Wait,” she said. “Wait, you need a condom.”
“I’ll pull out,” he said between kisses.
“No,” she insisted. “Stop!” She pushed him off, suddenly furious he would take risks like that with her. “You know I’m not on the pill.”
“Fine,” he growled, rolling back over to the nightstand to get a condom.
“Nevermind, I don’t think I’m in the mood anymore,” she said to his back before rolling over to face the wall.
“Jeez, Polly, you can’t leave me like this,” he whined.
“I rubbed one out earlier when you were late, feel free to do the same.”
He grunted as he stood, going to the bathroom and shutting the door. After a moment she rolled back over, worrying that she might be overreacting. Then she noticed he’d taken his phone with him. Watching the minutes tick by, she struggled with herself over his action and her reaction.
As she lay there in the dark listening to the silence, she thought she heard him talking in a low voice. Unable to make out the words, she walked up to the bathroom door intending to open it. With her hand on the knob, she could have sworn she heard him say, “I love you, too.”
