Nick
Chapter 1
“Take it, Nick.” His hand extended. The filthy, locked door rattled as muffled, angry shouts filtered though. I eyed the window behind us.
“I can’t,” I said. “It’s too much. I don’t want it.”
“I know. That’s why it has to be you.”
Two months earlier:
I was content, if not entirely happy. I had a good job, a series of girlfriends, a car, a decent apartment and a fun group of friends. Overall, I was comfortable in my own skin.
I worked as a bartender at a small neighborhood pub. At 32 years old, I was an elder statesman in the industry. The bar was mainly crowded with 20- or 30-something’s that lived in the nearby urban housing occupied by professional singles and childless couples. The crowd was an ever-evolving group of regular customers who would inevitably grow up enough to leave the bar scene. Sometimes they would get married and move to the suburbs to fight the commute and struggle to raise a family. But, they were soon replaced with a fresh face, new to the city or straight out of college.
I loved my job. I started tending bar while in college, myself. Once I graduated, I struggled to find a job. I soon realized that I was much happier in this scene. There was no danger of me growing up enough to move out of it. I wasn’t rich, but had everything that I really needed and most of what I wanted.
A bar is a never ending party. Working at one is a lifestyle choice more than a career choice. On days I didn’t work, I would...go to a bar. I drank every day. I learned to accept headaches as just something to get over in the afternoon when I finally woke up. I went through necessary cleansing phases with my body to keep it from completely shutting down. This life was truly about survival. Survival to get to the next party.
The best part of my job was the people. It was also the worst part. I could handle liquor. Those who couldn’t, the weekend warriors, made life absolutely miserable for those around them. The regular crowd almost kept the bar in order themselves. Occasionally, I would have to step in. But, that crowd was my family. We all truly cared for each other.
I had helped some of my regular customers move, occasionally threw them a few drinks if they were down on their luck, even cooked dinner for them. Doing some simple things for folks paid off in my job. Literally paid off. In very generous tips. It also paid off in other ways. I felt good about myself. I felt even better about the person I was able to help. There was a personal connection that was established.
Mike was one of those regulars. He was a bit different. Mike was quiet and unassuming, but still a friendly and charming guy. In his mid-forties, he was older than the average patron, but was supremely confident with the ladies. Many times, I saw him leave with a woman who was what I considered to be way beyond his league. You couldn’t help but like him.
Still, he mostly kept to himself. He would silently ready a book or magazine in the corner of the bar. He wasn’t chatty, but would pleasantly hold a brief conversation with anyone who wanted a word. He didn’t really have anybody that appeared to me to be a true friend. He never seemed to stay with any one girl, though he didn’t have problems getting them. He was an interesting and likable guy.
One day, as I pushed a fresh glass of Stella in front of him, he grabbed my wrist. That was unusual behavior from him. I paused as he looked me in the eye. He said, “I’d like you to be honest with me for just a few minutes.” He released my wrist and patted me comfortingly on my arm. I leaned into the bar, interested. “A couple of months ago, you loaned Angie over there five hundred bucks. Why?”
I looked at the cute blonde sitting at a table with her friends. Stupid bar secrets. No such thing. I looked back at Mike. “She really needed the help. She was short for rent.”
“She had enough to drink at the bar.” Mike made a good point.
“Well, yeah. But she’s still figuring out how to manage money. She’ll do fine. But she could have really gone downhill without a little help.”
“Did you get in her pants?”
“No.” At this point, I didn’t even know why I was still talking to Mike. He was crossing a line. “Not that it’s any of your business, Mike,” I said sternly.
“Would you like to?”
“Well, I mean, I guess, I...Look at her! Who wouldn’t?”
“But that’s not why you loaned her the money?”
“No!”
“Okay. Thanks for your honesty.” He patted my arm again before turning to the sports section of his newspaper. Newspaper. How very old school, I thought.
Without looking up from his paper, he said, “I really need a big favor, Nick. I can never pay you back for what I ask. But, I think you’ll find that it’s worth your while.” He lowered the paper to look me in the eye. “Would you be willing to help me? It is important.”
“What are you asking me to do?”
“Can you meet me in front of the bar tomorrow at noon? I’ll tell you more then.”
Shit. I would have to get up early to be back here at that ungodly hour. Mike was a good customer. He treated me well. “Sure, Mike. See you at noon tomorrow.”
I pushed the mop bucket out to the middle of the floor after closing. I heard the bathroom door close. I thought I had the place cleared. This was the dangerous part of the job. To my surprise, Angie walked out and moved toward me. Relief. Her long skirt swished as she slowly stepped. Her head was slightly down with her green eyes looking up at me.
“Hey, Angie! What are you still doing here?” I looked at my watch. “We closed an hour ago.”
Wordlessly, she walked up to me and wrapped her arms around me. With her head pressed against my chest, she said, “I never properly thanked you for the loan.”
“No big deal. You can pay me back when you can pay me back.”
Her hands slid down to the small of my back and she leaned away from me just enough to see my face. “I’d like to do a bit more than that.” She stood on her toes and moved her face toward me. “If it’s okay...” she whispered, just before we kissed.
I placed my hands on the side of her face and pulled her into me. Her tongue met mine with a warm, wet kiss. She pulled me tight against her. Her firm breasts pressed against my chest. I pressed back. I put my arms around her and lifted her body, placing her gently on a nearby table. She scrambled to remove her shirt. I excitedly breathed in her sweet perfume as I unbuckled my belt.
She pulled off my shirt. I lifted her skirt to expose her thin, smooth thighs. My pants dropped to the floor and she grasped at my hardening cock through my underwear. She rubbed me roughly as we kissed again. She lightly lifted herself from the table to slide down her panties. I ran my hand across her smooth, shaved crotch. Her back arched at my touch. One finger found into her slick clit and stroked back and forth softly across it. She leaned in again to kiss me as she pushed down at my underwear. I used my free hand to help her. She broke away to peek at my fully erect dick, staring straight up at her.
“Oh. Yes. I want you now!” She begged as she wrapped her small hand around my engorged member. She gently pulled me toward her open thighs and placed the head of my cock at her entrance. She paused and looked into my eyes. I slid easily inside her waiting cunt. I fucked her. It wasn’t tender. It wasn’t soft and loving. I fucked Angie on the top of a bar table hard and deep. She thrust her hips at me to meet every stroke. Her arms were around my neck as I stood next to the table delivering blow after blow of animal desire.
She squeaked. It was a high pitched sound that echoed throughout the room. She pulled herself to me, raising her entire body off of the table. Her stomach was clenched in ecstasy. I grabbed her perfectly formed ass and pummeled her again. Lust-fueled adrenalin pumped through my veins as I raised her up and impaled her deep onto me. Finally, I pulled out and she caught herself on her feet next to the table. She kneeled in front of me as I stroked to finish myself off, exploding onto her face and breasts.
Her mouth moved over my cock to extract the last fluid from me, causing my body to spasm and beg for mercy. I gently pushed her away and brought her back to me.
I struggled to regain my breath. “Wow,” was all I could muster.
Her normally pale face was pink with the exertion. She was awash in pleasure. She placed a gentle and lingering kiss on my lips. “You were everything I hoped,” she said. Then she looked at me again, confused. “I wasn’t really planning on doing this, you know. I don’t know what came over me. I hope I didn’t offend you.”
I bent over in laughter. “Not at all!” I said. “That was beautiful. You are beautiful.”
“I... I want to... I have to go. But, I promise to talk to you tomorrow. Thank you for...everything.” She smiled warmly before she dressed. As she was walking out, she kissed me on the cheek and left, leaving the door unlocked behind her.
My mind was numb. I realized I was standing with my pants around my ankles in the bar about two minutes later.
The next morning, my alarm clock screamed at 11:00. I had to get my lazy ass up if I were planning to meet Mike at noon.
Snooze button.
11:10
Snooze button.
11:20
Snooze button.
When one eye finally opened enough to see 11:53 shining at me from the clock, I was in a half panic. I jumped out of bed and threw on the nearest set of semi-clean clothes. I still smelled of sweat and cigarette smoke from the night before. And sex. That’s right. In a fog, the details returned to my mind. I couldn’t help but smile on my way to the bar. It was fiftee after when I finally arrived.
Mike was there. He stood next to the only car parked in the front of the place at this time of day. “Long night?” He asked with a playful smirk on his face. He reached out and shook my hand.
“Um, hey, Mike, I’m sorry I’m late.”
“It’s okay, but we have to go now. Are you ready?”
I had no idea how to answer. Ready for what? “I guess so.”
“Hop in,” he instructed. “I’ll explain on the way.”
He drove silently for about two minutes. Time it. Two minutes is a lot of silence in a car with another person. Finally he spoke.
“I have to trust you, Nick. More importantly, you have to trust me. Do you trust me?”
“I think so. What’s this about?”
“You’ll see soon enough. Do you believe in the supernatural? In voodoo? In magic?”
What had I gotten myself into. This guy was weird. “Uh, what like Harry Potter or witch doctor type stuff?”
He smiled and glanced at me as he made a turn to enter an interstate. “Yeah. Like that stuff.”
“Well, no. I mean, I don’t think we know everything. I don’t really believe in God, per se. But I don’t think there’s real magic in the world.”
“Why not?” He asked me with a sincere tone. He seemed truly interested in my answer.
“Well, if there were, we’d know a lot more about it. People would use it. Even if not at first, eventually, the wrong people would use it. It could be totally disastrous for mankind.”
He white teeth beamed a wide, proud smile. “That’s it!” he said. “Exactly right. The wrong people would use it. Then what?”
“I don’t know. The end of the world?”
“Yes,” he said seriously. “The end of the world. At least, the end of the functioning world as we know it. So, you would end up with fractious groups who understood the magic trying to kill each other off. Like maybe the Arabs Nations and Isreal? Or maybe a Cold War, like the Americans and Russians?”
“You’re suggesting that all of that is because of some mystery wand or voodoo doll?”
“Well, it’s not quite that simple. But, I’m not suggesting it. I’m flat out saying it.”
The car exited the interstate and turned on to a rural road lined by fields with crops and cattle.
“Listen, Mike,” I said, “I want to help you with...whatever it is that you’ve brought me out here to do, but I’m not going to be part of some strange mystical ritual that will sacrifice a virgin or a pig or something to call the powers of some demigod.”
“I’m not asking you to do that.” He stopped the car and looked at me. “Get out now, if you want. There’s no going back.” I surveyed the open fields and considered the miles I would have to traverse just to get back to road wide enough for two vehicles. “But,” he said with emphasis, “this is important. You are important. What I’m asking you is big.”
I opened the door. His head slumped down. I stepped out to the breezy sunlit day and looked around. Fuck. He had piqued my curiosity. This sounded bonkers to me. I sat back down in the car.
“Okay, I’ll bite. Just tell me what this is about.”
He shifted the car into gear and sped down the road. “How was Angie last night?”
“Where you watching? You sick fuck!”
“No! No, nothing like that. I made that happen for you.”
“I’m listening,” I said.
As he drove, he explained. My head hurt. My mind spun. I was hung over and tired and mentally blown away. I sat in disbelief. The car finally stopped in front of a tiny shack. We were miles from civilization.
“What about my job? I have to work tonight?” I wondered aloud.
“Don’t worry about that,” Mike said. “You won’t need it anymore. You’re too important to tend bar.”
Mike used a key to unlock the chain clumsily wrapped around the handle of the door. Once inside the small cabin. He moved the firewood stacked next to an old wood burning stove, revealing a button on the floor. He pushed the button and carefully replaced the wood. “You’ll want to stand over here, Nick” he said, motioning me toward him.
The floor shook. The wood planks moved apart revealing the
Steel platform below them. He stepped on and I followed. The platform travelled down. I looked up to see the last light fade when the wood planks creaked together above us, leaving us in total darkness. There was really no going back now.
Finally, the platform reached an opening. Light first crept across my shoelaces, then legs, then blindingly across my eyes. I stared, dumbfounded, at the expansive room. A woman in her 30’s wearing a white lab coat and a bun of red hair met us.
“Hi, Mike!” She said with a welcoming grin. “And you must be Nick. I’m Kelly. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She briskly turned and walked away. She talked as she walked about the mission and the “Others” and a string of other things I couldn’t keep up with. She spoke with efficiency and certainty in a starched, dry tone. My eyes were glued to her ass. It swayed rhythmically as she walked. Her lab coat disguised the narrow waist that was directly above it. I turned to see Mike grin as he watched me watching her. We walked past and impressive looking set of computer equipment. She led us to a hallway, then to a small dorm room. “Get some sleep,” she instructed me. “You look awful.”
That really was the best thing is heard all day. I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.
“Nick. Nick!”
I was shaken awake by Mike. “Here, put this on.” He handed me a gaudy looking gold chain necklace. No pendant. Too thick for my taste. Just ugly.
“What is it?” I asked taking it from his outstretched hand.
“It’s a kind of magic wand. A voodoo doll. Don’t take it off for anything. It’s part of you now. Anyone you touch will obey you. Even Kelly.” He winked and walked toward the door. “There’s a shower over there. And we laid out some clothes for you.”
I walked into the lab, freshly showered, necklace concealed discretely beneath my shirt.
Kelly was staring down at a laptop computer in a concentrated gaze. I looked over her shoulder at the screen. She jumped with surprise when I said, “Hey there.” She quickly slammed the laptop shut and spun around.
“Oh! Nick! Sorry, I didn’t see you.”
“No, my fault. I didn’t mean to sneak up on you. What are you working on?” I figured that I was in deep enough to get an answer.
“Oh, nothing. Just looking at some plans. How about some dinner?” She moved past me and I followed her to a quiet makeshift kitchen. Mike was busy at the counter making pasta.
“Just in time,” he said as he started to spoon out sauce. We ate and chatted. I asked probing questions about what we were doing. Why me? What happens if...? What, specifically do we have to do? Kelly and Mike both contributed responses to fill in the gaps in my understanding. After we had eaten, I felt mentally exhausted and overwhelmed.
Kelly smiled at me and patted my hand. “You’ll be just fine,” she said as she removed the plate in front of me and carried it to the sink.
When she was out of earshot, Mike whispered, “Go ahead, kid. Have some fun with her. It’s important that you learn how to use this and understand its power.” I looked down at my shoes. “I saw you looking at her. Trust me when I say that she will certainly enjoy it.” He grinned broadly. I had felt as if she were flirty during our dinner conversation.
“Kelly,” Mike said loudly enough for her to hear, “can you take Nick to the lab? I’ll finish up here.”
“Sure.” Kelly smiled warmly at me. “Follow me.”
Again, my eyes were drawn to the sway of Kelly’s hips as she walked. I nervously stepped behind her. From in front of me she said, “I know what you’re thinking.” She turned and looked back at me while she paused for me to walk next to her. I shuffled my feet forward uncomfortably. She grabbed my hand, “Don’t worry, Nick. I want you to.” She held my hand close to her. “Do it. Command me.” Her voice came out in a hoarse whisper. Her eyes held a far away, glazed look.
I had struggled with how to reconcile this to myself. That cinched it for me. With my hand in hers, I said, “Take me to a bed.” She led me to where I had slept. She gazed into my eyes the entire time. I sat on the edge of the bed. “Strip for me.”
She released my hand and pulled off her lab coat, followed by her shoes, and pants... As clothing piled up on the floor, Kelly revealed her pale white body to me. Her breasts swayed as her body moved. Her erect nipples stood proudly atop her large, pink areolas. A small patch of neatly trimmed red hair centered her wide, smooth hips. My cock was growing uncomfortably hard inside my pants.
“Your body is beautiful, Kelly. Will you let your hair down?” I asked as I watched from my place on the bed. My voice broke the silence that had existed in the room. Kelly shivered and crossed her arms in front of her, covering her breasts. She looked around, confused, and bent to pick up her shirt. I stood and reached for her arm. “Kelly, I’m sorry. Are you okay?”
When I touched her, the confusion was replaced by a warm, loving smile.
“Oh, I’m wonderful, Nick.” I had to touch her. The effects didn’t last for long. Her hands reached up to remove the pins in her bun. Long, flowing red curls cascaded over her shoulders. Women would kill get hair like that. I brushed it away from her face. I kissed her lips. She didn’t respond. I pulled back. “Nick, is something wrong?” she asked.
“Why didn’t you kiss me back?”
“All you had to do was tell me you wanted me to.” Her mouth opened. Her tongue dove between my lips and explored my mouth. My hands ran across her smooth, white skin. I pinched her nipples. A soft “oh” escaped her lips.
“Get on the bed,” I instructed. She sensuously slid on top of the bed next to us. I held her hand and said, “Take my pants off.”
“Oh! Yes, Nick.” She exclaimed as she pulled on my belt and shoved them down. “Tell me what to do! I love it!”
“Take my dick in your hands.” She wrapped her delicate fingers around my throbbing dick. Her body shook with excitement.
“Oh, god! Tell me Nick! Tell me what to do!” I slipped off my shirt and pressed her shoulders back on the bed as I mounted her. “Oh, Nick, please! Tell me!” The ugly gold chain around my neck draped over her lovely tits. She shuddered. “Please!!!” she begged.
“Guide me inside of you,” I commanded.
“Oh, fuck, yes!” she screamed as my hard cock entered her slick cunt. I thrust deep in her. “Nick! Yes! Oh!” She released a new syllable each time I pumped deep inside her.
“Fuck me!” I ordered as I delved deeper inside her body. She bucked wildly. Her body spammed and shook as her hips flailed to meet my each thrust.
“Oh! Fuck! Yes! Niiiiick!” Her back arched in pleasure and her body convulsed in orgasmic bliss. I pulled out of her. My body tensed. Her legs wrapped around me as I sprayed hot, sticky cum across her stomach. I grunted and sprayed her again.
I was emptied. I was filled. I was pleasure and shock. I was confused and clearer than I had ever been. This was real. I was power.
From behind me, I heard, “Bravo, Nick.” I turned to see Mike leaning against the door frame and quietly clapping. “Well done.”
I rolled over next to Kelly and pulled up the sheet to cover us both. She was breathing heavily and snuggling against me. “Kelly is quite a valuable asset, don’t you think?” he asked.
“Um, well, she, I guess so?” I responded, still high from my orgasm. That elicited a booming laugh from Mike.
Kelly kissed my face and neck. She got closer to me and whispered in my ear, “Please, Nick. Tell me what to do.”
“I told you she would enjoy it, Nick. Now, have as much fun as you’d like. We start the harder training tomorrow.”