by Sarah Monte
Mike did not owe David anything at all, and he knew that if he told David that he didn’t want anything to do with him anymore his cousin would understand.
Mike wondered if he would be able to do this at all. How could he just tell his childhood best friend that he didn’t want to see him anymore? It would have been impossible to do if Mike did not feel so strongly about Jennifer, but the thought of being with her gave him a great deal of strength. It helped him to believe that he could do what needed to be done.
He had breakfast with Jennifer that morning and it was perfect, and by the time it was done he had made up his mind. That Sunday was going to be the day he told David that he would not be seeing him anymore.
*****
Mike made his way to the warehouse district. He had made up his farewell speech in his head, he knew exactly what he was going to say. No matter what happened, he was not going to falter. He was going to tell David what was what, and he was going to make sure that his cousin knew that it was not his fault. He had gotten involved in something intense and that was something he deserved sympathy for, but Mike couldn’t put his life or happiness on hold just because his cousin needed him. He had tried to ask David what was going on, he had tried to understand whether or not there was anything he could do to help but David had been completely mum about the whole thing. Hence, Mike had no choice but to make the tough choice.
He decided that he would give David one last chance to explain. If David told him what was going on, Mike would continue to meet him and try to solve the problem. At least this way he would know what he had to do in order to resolve this issue and move on with his life.
When he got to the usual spot, Mike found that David was not there. This was most unusual. David always got to the spot well before Mike did. Mike checked his watch and saw that he was not early. They usually met at four in the afternoon and it was currently six minutes past. He wondered where David was and a slight twinge of fear started to creep up Mike’s spine.
What if something had happened? Mike decided that he had to call David in order to find out where he was. He dialed his cousin’s number but to his dismay David did not answer. He called again but to no avail.
He was starting to get quite a bit worried. David was obviously involved with some unsavory types and he knew that sooner or later, such things tended to catch up to you whether you were careful or not. What if, on the very day that Mike was going to abandon him, David had ended up getting kidnapped? Or worse, what if David was…
No, Mike could not allow himself to even think of that. If he allowed that thought to enter his brain he would go mad with grief, he would end up doing something stupid or irrational.
Mike was just about to call his contacts in the police to tell them to look out for someone with David’s description when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and saw that it was David.
“I’m sorry I’m late,” said David, “I got caught up-“
He was cut off by Mike throwing his arms around him and hugging him tight. “Where the fuck were you man?” asked Mike after pulling away. “You had me worried sick! What the fuck are you thinking? If you are going to be late at least text or call or something. You know that I know you are involved in something dangerous.”
“I didn’t think you’d get this worried,” said David, looking genuinely nonplussed by Mike’s reaction.
“Are you fucking kidding me?’ asked Mike. “After the way you have been behaving this past year? Are you seriously surprised that I was worried about you? Jesus, man. You are involved in some dangerous shit, I am obviously going to be worried about you.”
“I’m sorry,” said David. “Next time I’ll call you or text you.”
At the mention of a next time Mike suddenly realized his intention for today. He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled it. How could he do it now after the heart attack he had just had? He decided that he would sit David down and talk to him first.
“Look,” he said, “I need to know what’s going on.”
“I can’t tell you,” said David. “I have tried to explain this to you time and time again…”
“I don’t fucking care,” said Mike. “I am involved in this by proxy. I keep meeting you week after week and my life is in stasis because of it. I don’t know if I can move forwards or backwards because I am always concerned that something dangerous might happen, that you might get hurt. I need to know what’s going on otherwise I am not going to come see you again, man. I will transfer the money to you or wire it or something but I am not going to meet you, and I mean that. I can’t keep doing this.”
David was silent for a long time. He looked at Mike but there was no sorrow in his expression, only an odd mask of relief.
“It’s… it’s just that there’s someone I like,” said Mike. “You know how rare that is for me. I barely ever like anyone, and I certainly never like anyone enough to actually date them. But this girl… she’s different. She’s like… She’s everything I need right now. And we have a connection too, a deep one, she even asked me what we are going to do about it, and do you know what I said to her? Nothing. I didn’t have an answer to give because I don’t know what’s going on with you, man. If you want to me to keep seeing you, you are going to have to tell me what’s going on so that I can try and fix it. If you don’t tell me I am going to walk. You’ll get your money, don’t worry about that, but I am going to have to start living my own life some time.”
“You’re right,” said David. “You’re right. I am sorry it has to be like this.”
He looked for a moment as if he was one the verge of breaking, of telling Mike everything he wanted to know, but then he seemed to reconsider.
“I can’t,” said David. “I can’t. I wouldn’t know where to start.”
“Just start at the beginning, man,” said Mike. “I have all day. You can tell me at your own pace or you can tell me in a few days when you have the words. You can take all of the time you need, I am not demanding an immediate answer or anything like that. I just want to know what you are into, I want to know what problems my cousin is facing.”
“I can’t,” said David yet again, aggressively shaking his head. “I have to go. I understand, Mike, I really do. You can’t put your life on hold for me. Go for this girl, she sounds amazing, and if you want to stop sending the money you can do that too.”
“David,” said Mike, “come on, man. Come on. Please…”
David got up and started to walk away, and no matter how much Mike shouted and pleaded after him he would not turn. Before long, he was swallowed whole by the mist. Mike had lost his childhood best friend. He had lost his brother.
Chapter Nine
Life was stranger after Mike broke things off with David. He sent him money every week and David would text him to inform him that he had received it. Things with Jennifer ended up being amazing. He went and told her that he thought they should be together and she was obviously over the moon about it. She cried tears of joy, and Mike held her as she did. His own feelings were rather mixed. He was obviously overjoyed that he could finally be with Jennifer but at the same time he wished it didn’t have to come at the cost of his cousin.
Mike had been having a lot of stress about his financials lately and Jennifer noticed the steady decline in the attention she got from him. She wanted to talk to him about it but his work had been keeping him really busy. Every time she tried to bring up the conversation he would divert the topic toward something else and it started to get her a little irritated. So she planned a surprise dinner at his place one night hoping that she could get him to talk about his troubles.
That day Mike was in his worst mood and wanted to be alone for some time but he came home to find Jennifer dressed up in a very sexy night dress. He gave her a tight hug, she held his cheeks and kissed him for a long while until his frustrated frown went away but all of a sudden Mike remembered why he wanted to be alone and got irritated at the fact that he couldn't possibly ask he
r to leave since he had been too busy to spend any proper time with her lately. On the other hand Jennifer noticed his stressful mood and thought of doing something to ease his mind. She started to kiss him more and more while running her hands up and down his arms and back, occasionally pulling him closer. Mike could think of nothing but his issues and how he needed to tackle them but this only got him irritated as he couldn't concentrate on anything properly with Jennifer's tongue inside his mouth. He pushed her on the couch behind and started taking off whatever she was wearing till she was in just her birthday suit. Watching her lay there completely naked turned him on while he looked at her in complete lust. she asked him to come closer so she could undress him, but he was way ahead of her and took off his clothes within seconds after he saw her fully naked. The sight of her perfect supple breasts and almost bald vagina just drove him a little crazy, Mike went down on her and licked her clit, making it really wet. As Jennifer thought that it couldn't get better than this, Mike inserted his finger inside her vagina while he was rubbing her clit with his tongue.
It barely took a minute till Jennifer came hard as Mike fingered and licked her simultaneously after which she pulled him closer and grabbed his dick. Jennifer moved her hands very swiftly while jerking Mike off and she got him hard within seconds. She wanted him to be on top to start with but he suddenly showed a lot more aggression as he pulled her up and flipped her upside down and startled her as he immediately pushed his dick inside her vagina. It hurt a little since it did not slide in smoothly but he quickly caught a comfortable pace and started to fuck her. Mike was still in a bad mood which was being enjoyed by Jennifer unknowingly as he fucked her really hard. For a few minutes she was just screaming until it started to hurt her and she asked him to stop. Mike sat down on the couch and pulled her on top of him. As she sat down on his dick, watching it disappear into her vagina really turned him on. He grabbed her and fucked her really fast till her moans turned into screams and in minutes she came. In a very tired state Jennifer told Mike how tired she was and needed a break, but Mike wanted to cum really badly so he asked her to suck his dick. While Jennifer sucked and stroked Mike's wet dick really gently she asked him where he wanted to cum. Without any response Mike grabbed her head and shoved his cock down her throat till there was no room. As she spits and gags Mike releases her head for her to catch a breath and while she's still gasping pushes it down his dick again and fucks her mouth till she starts gagging on it. Jennifer's gag reflex triggers Mike's orgasm and he shoots his cum directly into her throat before releasing her.
Jennifer was almost suffocated and breathless in this moment but enjoyed it and loved the happiness she brought on Mike’s face.
“How do you manage to make me smile like this even when I’m so messed up?” asked Mike with wonder as he stared at his new girlfriend.
Jenny smiled back at him and replied, “What you forget Mr. Sinclair, is that we work in the same company. I know you’re a little stressed about the way things have been going, and with all the David thing too in your personal life – but that doesn’t mean you have to shut me out you know. I loved what happened between us right now, but I don’t want you to be so frustrated or angry in general anyway.
Mike smiled and pulled her close, wishing that the two of them could live in this moment forever.
Things went quite well for a month when Mike sent money to David and did not get a response. This was the fifth time he was sending his cousin money, and the previous four times David had messaged him within an hour after Mike sent it telling him that he had picked the money up. This time it had been over three hours and Mike was starting to get worried at the lack of contact from David’s end.
He tried calling him but David did not pick up. He did not respond to texts, he did not call back. Mike was hoping that this was like the situation at the warehouses the last time he had met David. He hoped that his cousin was okay, that he was just caught up with something and hadn’t been able to pick the money up.
However, as the evening progressed, Mike started to realize that something was truly wrong. Nothing would keep David away from the money this long. There was something very, very wrong here and Mike felt like he was going to go crazy with worry if he did not get to the bottom of this.
*****
Jennifer was having a great day at work. Her boyfriend was busy with his own thing as was she, and that was what made them work so well. They gave each other a lot of space, and at the end of the day they met up and had dinner or fucked, oftentimes doing both! She was living a good life, and after two and a half months at this job she was making some real waves. Thanks to the money she was earning she had been able to fix up her apartment quite nicely and had sent some money back to her mom as well so that she could pay for her medicine and doctor’s appointments.
All in all, things were going quite well for Jennifer, but then she got a call that signaled that everything was about to change. The call was from Mike and when she saw his name as the caller ID she was quite pleased that he was calling. Even though this was not the sort of thing that the two of them normally did, she still liked that he was calling her out of the blue like this. It was a nice surprise to help her get through the day!
“Hey!” she said. “This is a nice surprise. Don’t you have work you need to be doing?”
“Jenny,” said Mike, “I… I don’t know what to do.”
“What’s wrong?” asked Jennifer. “Are you okay? What’s going on?”
“It’s… it’s David,” said Mike.
“David?” asked Jennifer. “What happened to him?’
“I… I don’t know,” said Mike. He sounded positively distraught, Jennifer had never heard his voice like this. He was always so composed and cool, as if nothing in the world could faze him. Now, however, he sounded like he was on the verge of breakdown. He sounded like he was about to cry.
“Where are you?” asked Jennifer. “I can come to you right now.”
“No,” said Mike, “no I…”
“You what?” said Jennifer. “You called me so clearly you need me. Just tell me where you are. I haven’t taken a single day off and I have worked a few weekends as well, if I take a half day right now I am not going to get any flak for it.”
Mike told her where he was and Jennifer rushed to him. She wondered if this had to do with the issues he had been facing before, the problems that had prevented him from being with her. When he had finally said that he wanted to be with her, Jennifer had been curious about what happened to all of the problems he had been facing. When she asked Mike, he had just said that they would not have to worry about them anymore. He said that he had handled everything and they could be together now.
Clearly that had not been the case. Mike needed her, and Jennifer was going to be there for him. She took the rest of the day off and headed to Mike’s condo where he was waiting for her.
*****
When Mike opened the door to his condo, Jennifer rushed in and hugged him tight. His face was etched with worry, and he looked like he was going to collapse. “This is all my fault,” he said. “I… I sent him away. Told him I couldn’t see him anymore. Told him to… told him to…”
“Mike,” said Jennifer, “sit down. Take a deep breath. Here, I’ll get you some water.”
Jennifer brought him a glass of water and he slowly sipped it, trying to calm himself down. When he was a little more stable, Jennifer said, “Now tell me from the beginning what’s going on.”
“A little over a year ago, David came to me,” said Mike. “I hadn’t spoken to him in over a decade and yet there he was. He told me he was in some trouble and that he needed money. When I asked him what kind of trouble he was in he told me that he couldn’t explain, and that he just needed me to help him. Over the next year I kept trying to find out what was going on with him but he never let me in. He just… he kept avoiding it, Jennifer. I knew that if he told me what was going on, I would have been able to help him for sure. I mean, what could he
possibly be involved in? The mob? I know people in the mob, some of them are my clients for God’s sake. They are people I work with. I could have worked something out. But no, he never let me in. That’s why I was hesitant to get together with you. I felt like if he was involved in something dangerous it would invariably involve me too, and if you were with me you would get caught up in it as well. When we slept together I realized that I needed to be with you so I told David that he could either tell me what was going on or I would never see him again. He didn’t tell me, so I broke things off. I kept wiring him money and he would always text me when he got it but yesterday he didn’t text me. He never took more than an hour to text me before but it’s been almost twenty four hours and he hasn’t texted me yet. I don’t know what to do, Jennifer.”
“Okay,” said Jennifer, “okay listen. First of all, this is not your fault. You were only trying to help your cousin, he was the one that was not accepting your help. You didn’t want to abandon him or anything. You didn’t want to leave him alone. He was holding you back and you took the decision to cut him off so that you could move forward with your life, and there is nothing wrong with this at all. Now that he is not responding to you, you need to think of a way to help him. Come on, you are Michael fucking Sinclair. You are the smartest and most capable man I know. You are the man that keeps me sane, for God’s sake! If there is anyone that can help David right now, it’s his amazing cousin.”
