by Dani Stowe
“Say my name.”
Loulah’s nose crinkles. “Huh?”
His head tilts. “Say my name.”
“Nnnnick.”
Nick smiles with enthusiasm and shuts the door, but once the handle latches, the atmosphere gets thick again. Nick looks to the floor and then back up at the door. He puts one hand on his hip and scratches the back of his head. “There’s something going on with her, man.”
I believe he’s referring to Loulah, but I need to be sure. “With who?”
“Lou! Who else?” he blurts, trailing his feet as he turns and walks towards his black leather chair in a daze to sit down, throwing his belt over his desk.
I follow to sit in one of the chairs across and in front of him. “I’ve never known you to be worried about Loulah before.”
“What are you talking about?” he snaps. “She’s like my right hand. Why do you think I missed my appointment with your girlfriend this morning? I had to take Lou to the doctor.”
My head hurts. I’m so confused, but that explains the bandages on Loulah’s inner elbows; she had blood drawn. “I didn’t realize Loulah was ill. She looked fine just now.”
“The doctor said the same thing after I forced her to go, but nawh.” He slouches into the leather, planting his foot on the seat to hug his own knee. “There’s something going on with her. Something’s not right.”
“I know the feeling,” I confess.
Nick puts his leg down, leaning forward and placing his forearms at the edge of his desk. He’s back in boss mode. “So, I take it you interrupted me because of the Bang. This had better be good.”
I swing my hand to point my thumb up with my index finger pointed in the shape of a gun. “You said to report back if I had any problems. You told us to interrupt you regardless of what you were doing if there were any new developments.”
“You’re scaring me, Jax, so tell me. Did you take the Bang?’
“I did.”
“And?”
“It didn’t work for me.”
Nick growls, leaning back in his chair. “That’s bullshit. Don’t talk sacrilege in my office. This pill you geeks created is going to change the world. It’s a fucking miracle. If Ursula Chandler did not come onto you after you downed the pill, then she doesn’t like you and you’re going to have to accept that.”
“No,” I lean back, “she likes me. She got hot sitting next to me after I popped the pill in the back of a cab, but she was able to resist the drug—to a certain extent.”
Nick leans forward again, his interest piqued, and he lifts the phone receiver to his ear. “Lou, get the other Nines on the line for a conference.” Nick hangs up and within a minute, the rest of NIM, Elliot and Don, are joining in on the conversation via speakerphone.
I tell them what happened. I tell them about slipping the pill under my tongue, which prompted Sue to get freaky with herself. I mention she was able to resist kissing me and she wanted nothing more than to get fingered.
As I recall the events of the day, I find I’m uneasy about reporting the whole thing. These are my friends and business partners, but it’s embarrassing to say the one girl who has consumed my brain for a ridiculous amount of time might turn out to be nothing more than a hard crush I should’ve gotten over ages ago. There is a part of me that doesn’t want to confess everything that happened, but I share the events anyway. I share everything because, despite the embarrassment of Sue resisting my kiss and my manhood, I still have a small spark of hope that maybe Elliot could tweak the formula or do something, anything, to get the Bang to work for me.
I finally get to the part about the phobia and Sue’s fear of male genitalia.
Nick laughs, of course, before I even have a chance to finish the word, phallophobia. “Well, that’s a downer. Sorry, man, but it sounds like you’re fucked,” he chortles. “If Sue’s afraid of the big ‘D,’ there’s no way the Bang is going to help you with that.”
My heart crash lands to splatter on Nick’s black marble floors.
“Is she on any other medication?” asks Don.
The inquiry ignites me; perhaps my heart is still salvageable.
“She took a pill in the elevator,” I mention, “which she keeps for emergencies. An antianxiety pill.”
“It’s likely she’s on a daily medication as well,” reports Don.
“And there could be an incompatibility issue,” cuts in Elliot. “The Bang might not be achieving maximum effect because the other drugs in her system are interfering.”
Of course, I should’ve thought of this, but I realize I can’t think straight. I’m too consumed with the proximity of Sue in my life right now. She’s so close.
“We need to find out what drugs Sue is on,” continues Elliot. “When you find out, forward the list to me. It’s possible I can tweak the formula and press a new pill for you, but it could take me some time.”
“How long?” I ask.
“Hmm, a few days maybe.”
I sigh. “She’s not going to stay in town that long.”
As if on cue, the door behind us opens and Loulah walks in with a pile of folded sheets topped with a fluffy white towel in one hand and a stainless-steel tumbler in the other, which I assume contains Nick’s fresh dark brew.
Nick sits up straight. “Lou, how much money do we have in the emergency fund?”
Loulah places the sheets on the corner of Nick’s desk and the coffee near his right hand. “1.8 million, I believe.”
“Who can we pay at the FDA to encourage Sue to stay with us here at NIM for a few extra days?”
“Her boss,” she says, clasping her fingers together. “We paid him to hire her.” She smiles and winks at me.
Relief washes through me.
Nick cocks his head at Loulah. “Make it happen, will you?”
Loulah nods and as she turns to exit, Nick smacks her across the ass so hard she practically falls forward but catches herself on his desk.
She gives him a wicked glare and grits her teeth. “That one hurt!”
Nick cocks his head to the side and looks in his lap as he digs into his back pocket. “Sorry.” He pulls out his wallet, grabbing a credit card, and holds it out to her. “Here. Pick out something really nice for yourself this time, will you?”
Loulah’s eyes wander between Nick and the card until she huffs. The whole thing is strange. I figure I’d get used to their relationship after all these years, but I can never figure out the semantics and seeing them interact still makes me uncomfortable.
Loulah pushes herself forcefully from the desk and stomps out, shutting the door behind her and leaving the card hanging in Nick’s hand.
“You see?!” he stresses. “There’s something wrong with her!”
I clear my throat and adjust my ass in Nick’s stiff leather chair. “Maybe you shouldn’t have smacked her.”
Flinching, he chortles, “I didn’t smack her.”
“You smacked her on the ass. Hard.”
Nick slams his hand with the credit card on the table. “That was hardly a smack and believe me, I know.”
“That sounded like a smack to me,” interrupts Elliot over the phone.
“Yeah, I heard it, too,” adds Don.
“What the fuck?!” Nick slams back into his chair and spins to put his back to me. “Fuck you, nerds. Get back to work.”
We are all silent and I know the others are thinking exactly what I am—Nick needs help. He’s been such a good friend. Today, I was able to walk right into his office and deliver a story that I have no doubt other people would judge as insanely nuts.
Complete savagery!
But Nick is willing to pull out all of his resources to help me link up with a girl that I may never stand a chance in obtaining.
I notice a novel sitting at the corner of his desk. Creature by John Saul. Nick still seems to be stuck—no, torn—between a dark childhood and the present, which he tries but can never seem to make amends with. He never mentions anything of
his past, but we all know the darkness is there.
My heart goes out to him. “Nick, if you need to talk.”
“I said get out, geek,” he grumbles sternly.
Elliot and Don say their goodbyes and hang up, ending the conference. I stand, adjusting my suit with a heavy heart, and walk towards the door to open it, but before I step through the doorway, Nick speaks.
“Mr. Nine.”
I turn around. The back of Nick’s chair still faces me. “Yes, boss.”
“Tell Lou I’d like to see her in my office.”
The knot of my tie at my neck feels tight. I clear my throat as I pull on the knot. “I’ll let her know.”
Chapter 7
Ursula
The sound of running water trickles in my ear and my mind is back with Jaxon as an eighteen-year-old, his head hanging low under the drizzle of hot water from the shower spout, his hand flat against the tiled wall in front of him to support his weight.
“Turn around Jaxon,” I told him. “Don’t be shy.”
I put my fingers at the center of his lower back between his dimples. I let my hand move outward to where his hip bones met his upper butt. He shuddered with excitement and I ran my hand up his spine against the fall of running water until my fingers met his neck.
He stood straight and reached back to grip my fingers, holding them over his shoulder. “You want this?”
I gulped. “Yes.”
“You want to do it?”
“Yes.”
“You want me to do it with you?”
“Yes.” Jeez, I remember thinking. How much clearer could I be?
I relaxed my stance. Maybe Jaxon didn’t want me to be his first time, the way I wanted him to be my first.
“If you don’t want to do it with me, Jaxon,” I sighed. “If you don’t like me in that way—”
Jaxon yanked my hand until I was flush against his back and he wrapped my hand across his mouth to kiss my palm before he turned off the shower and finally turned around.
“I... I’ve always liked you,” he stuttered, checking me out from head to toe, stopping to ogle my breasts. My nipples got hard like they were being touched by his stare.
He reached his hand out to my boob and I thought he was going to grab it but instead, he lightly circled his hand flat until he rolled my nipple softly between his thumb and forefinger. It sent an electrifying pulse straight to the space between my legs.
A smile spread across his face and he finally seemed to relax, with the exception of his hard mass prodding along my inner thigh.
“Sue, I want to kiss you,” he said, caressing my breast tenderly.
“Okay,” I chuckled. “I’m not going to stop you if you want to.”
“Okay,” he exhaled, putting his other hand behind my neck. “You’re going to have to bend down a little because I don’t want to tiptoe to do it. You’re so pretty. You make me want to be the man here.”
Finally! Jaxon was not only ready to concede, but he was also about to step up for the second time in one night. First, he pulled me out of a fire and now he was about to do “it” with me.
My heart was pounding. My insides were mush. I knew I was about to have a mind-blowing, life changing, phenomenal, and soul-altercating experience.
I leaned my head down to kiss him. I kissed plenty of boys so kissing was never a big deal until the moment my lips touched Jaxon’s and for the first time ever, a kiss was a very big deal.
Jaxon’s face was still steamy from the shower and his lips were hot. He puckered them like he wanted a smoochy-type of kiss, the kind of kiss you give your grandmother on her cheek, and I knew he’d never kissed a girl before. But the soft plumpness made me feel like a kid myself so we kissed with a couple of puckered and suctioning smacks until our teeth collided with a clonk. I tried to pull away, but Jaxon wouldn’t let me. It was at that moment I felt like he was ready to swallow me. He opened his mouth and kissed me like no boy ever kissed me before.
He clawed into the back of my head, entwining his fingers in my hair, then pulled on my neck so he could kiss me really hard with searing lips and slippery spit. I recall thinking the rod between his legs, digging into my thigh, seemed also to be getting harder and it freaked me out when my foot slipped, forcing his prick to dig deep into my lean muscle to the point it was painful.
“You okay?” Jaxon asked, the suction of our mouths broken but his arm still strapped tightly around my waist. I had nearly fallen over, but he caught me.
Again, I was thankful. Jaxon had performed yet another save but this time I found myself stepping backward, away from the stiffness between his legs.
“I’m fine,” I grinned.
Jaxon really came at me after that to the point he was reaching on tiptoe. He was everywhere—all over me—his hands, his lips, his kisses. He seemed to be working so hard he was beginning to sweat, smearing his man juice mixed with leftover water beads from showering and smoothing himself slick across my body.
There were moments I had to lean my head back to take a breath from the heat, from the excitement, from his every limb and finger eager to touch or grab at me. Jaxon was at the perfect height for giving me kisses across my neck, which he gave lavishly. But when my back landed flat against the tile wall and I put my leg up on the tub ledge for leverage, he jerked my head down to put his tongue in my mouth and grinded his hips into my thighs.
That was when I knew it was really going to happen. I was going to have sex and Jaxon was going to put his hard rod inside me. The same hard rod, the one that just poked me in the leg to leave what I knew would be a bruise in my athletically-conditioned thigh, was about to pop my virginity.
“Jaxon,” I interrupted with a push and he shook as if he needed a moment to come down from cloud nine.
“What’s the matter?” he asked, eyes wide with anticipation of what I was about to say.
I showed him the square packet. “You need to put this on.”
He smiled, relieved, and took the packet. “Oh yeah, right.”
I watched him tear the packet open and attempt to place the condom over the head of his penis and then roll the condom down his shaft. He got flustered. “Sue, do you have another one? A bigger one?”
“A bigger one?” I grimaced. I had no idea at the time he was being serious.
He groaned as he continued to try rolling the thin plastic that looked like shiny thick skin over his hardness. “This one’s too small, Sue. It’s really tight.”
Too small? Too small! I tried to understand why he was behaving so silly, trying to impress me, trying to act like his was bigger than average, which I had no idea was true. The whole thing was not turning out the way I thought it would and I was beginning to think maybe I should wait.
“Hey,” Jaxon cooed, seeing the worry in my face and rubbing my cheek firmly with one hand while tugging down hard at the condom’s rim with his other to unroll it as far as he could, which was maybe one-third of the way past the thick mushroom head. “I’m sure it’s fine like this, okay?”
I nodded. “Okay.”
“I need you to bend down a bit so I can reach you. Can you squat a little?”
Jaxon put his arm on my shoulder, urging me to come down to a level that was comfortable for him. When he leaned his body against mine and the tip of him met my entrance, my breath hitched.
Jaxon tugged my face to look him straight in the eyes. He was squinting with a furrowed brow. “You have done this before, haven’t you?”
Only a small part of me wanted to tell him the truth—that it was also my first time. But the way Jaxon looked at me, like he cared so much, just made me want to give him a piece of myself. He wasn’t like all the other boys, who were always pressuring me to have sex:
It’s not going to hurt.
It’s going to feel good.
I’m not going to hurt you.
It’s just your virginity.
It’s not a big deal.
Why don’t you trust me?
Don’t you love me?
My boyfriend at the time threatened to break up with me if I didn’t give it up soon and trust him. Trust. Pfft! I didn’t think I would mind having sex with a baller. I just didn’t want a baller to be my first time. I wanted my first time to be special—really special. And there was clearly no one more special than Jaxon because Jaxon always made me feel special, looking at me all the time.
Not to mention, at that point, I knew if Jaxon should reject me, I would go beyond feeling crushed, I would feel humiliated. The thought of being scorned by a geek would really hurt.
“Sue,” he hollered and repeated himself. “You’ve done this before, right?”
“Mhm,” I blinked.
Jaxon kissed me with a soft peck and I followed his gaze to look down through the small gap between our bodies to see his long length aimed straight at the junction between my thighs.
He placed his hands on my hips. “I need you to tell me if I’m in the right spot.”
His rod was aimed exactly in the right spot.
“Yes.”
With one hard forceful and impaling thrust, I felt a pop and I hollered.
Chapter 8
Ursula
Pop. The thought arouses me.
Oh jeez. My bladder feels like it’s about to burst! I open an eye. I try to open the other one, but its stuck shut.
I feel heavy and I could easily go back to sleep to get over this drug-induced hangover, but if I don’t get up, I’m going to wet myself.
Blinking both eyes open, I notice I’m still in my suit and I’ve kicked the covers down to my feet.
Covers?! Gray covers hug my body. Someone’s covered me.
Tinkering, like dishes lightly clamoring, resounds. I grip on the fabric I have in my hand, pulling it to my face.
Someone’s here! In my hotel room!
The smell of clean cologne fills my nostrils and I glance down to see I’ve got Jaxon’s suit jacket in my clutches.
I toss it down to my lap and lean up slowly to peek above the backend of the sofa.
Jaxon!
Shirtless!
Sitting in my hotel room at the table eating...
