CHAPTER ONE
Booz had made his choice.
Or rather his pecker had made it for him.
Yes, sir, this was the one. The girl was so pretty the way she moved
her body in that little skirt with the real tight bra. She had on
shoes with real high heels, too, the shiny kind like girls did at
church.
Except this place weren't like church. Not even close, what with its
swirling lights and bar full of liquor and bouncing titties.
Booz drooled a little, watching the girl some more, her little white
socks all frilly under the shoes, dancing so good around that bright
silver pole that it made him crazy from wanting to touch her in her
secret dark places.
None of the others they'd seen had been like her, not even close.
`I want that one,` said Booz to his big brother, who was much smaller
than him but way smarter.
`Don't point,` said Mace. `It ain't polite.`
Booz stopped pointing at the girl with the blue eyes and the pretty
mouth and the frilly socks. `But she's the one I want. Can I have her?
You said we was here to pick me out a wife from outta these here girls
and if'n there was one made my pecker wanna blow up in my pants then
she'd be the one. Well this one makes my pecker wanna blow up, real
bad.`
`I'm sure she does, Little Brother, but you gotta let me check some
things out first.`
`What kinda things?`
Mace downed his glass of scotch. He had to hand it to Booz – simple
minded though he might be, his baby brother knew how to pick 'em. The
imitation school girl with the auburn pony tails, tartan skirt and
letter sweater was one prime piece of ass. `Complicated things, Booz,
you wouldn't understand. Can't just go around kidnapping women and
marrying 'em without doing a little work ahead of time.`
`You can't?`
`No, you can't. We talked about it, remember? What if she's already
got a husband? What if she's got friends around her all the time and
we can't find no way to get her alone so we can grab her?` Mace was
used to repeating himself to Booz. The man might be six foot tall,
full of muscles and blessed with the kind of good looks made any woman
swoon, but he didn't have the attention span of a golf ball.
Nor was he capable of grasping the niceties of right and wrong or
moral decision making. All he knew was what Mama had told him – he was
a man now and it was time for him to have himself a wife like Mace did
and all the other men of the family.
As his big brother, it was Mace's job to help him get one according
to the ways of the Holler they were all raised up in.
That way didn't involve courting. It was all about capture,
possession. And enslavement to the family. Mace's own wife Ruby had
been taken in that way from a neighboring clan and so had the wives of
his cousins. Mama had been a slave, too, until Papa had passed on
leaving her head of the clan.
`Oh, yea,` exclaimed Booz. `I forgot. I can't marry a girl if'n she
got a husband already, right? That would be biga ... biga...`
`Bigamy,` he finished the word for him.
Bigamy was a sin, one of ones that Holler people didn't commit, even
when they were kidnapping girls. Mace thought that was ironic, which
was another big word, one he'd learned out of the dictionary he kept
under his bed.
`Bigamy, yea.` Booz swallowed hard. The pretty girl had taken off her
sweater and now she was opening her bra from the back. Her breasts
were real nice, creamy and smooth. Booz's palms were all sweaty and
itchy cause he wanted to touch and squeeze them. `Mace, my cock is
aching real bad, can I take it out and play with it?`
`Not here, Booz. There's people around.`
`I forgot,` said Booz. `I was thinking about the pretty girl. Is she
gonna be my wife, Mace?`
Mace sighed. Now he knew how Mama felt trying to deal with her
beloved baby boy. `Yea, Booz, she's gonna be all yours.`
What a waste of breath, thought Mace. Didn't matter what he said,
he'd only ask again in five minutes.
`Yippee,` said Booz, getting a little too excited for their own
good.
`Calm down, Booz.` A couple of bad-ass bouncers with leather vests
and granite jaws were watching them now and that was the last thing
they needed. They were already suspicious on account of how Booz was
bigger than any of them and tougher looking, too.
They didn't know the half of it. The man stood six foot five, weighed
two hundred and fifty pounds and could lift well over twice his
weight. That strength might come in handy if they should need to fight
their way out of here tonight.
`I'm calming down,` Booz assured him. `See?`
Mace gave a glance, nodding at his pathetic attempt to look casual.
`Hey, know what, Mace?` Booz shifted gears with all the grace of a
cow in a tulip patch. `Mama says when I got me a pretty wife, I can
put my pecker in her any time I like and it's gonna feel real good and
I'm gonna get to do other things and my new wife, she's gonna have to
do everything I say, just like the hound dogs and if'n she don't than
I can beat and punish her, but when she's good, I can play with her
and touch her any way I like.`
`That's right, Booz, but you need to keep that to yourself for now,
okay?`
`Okay, Mace.` Booz trusted his brother completely. Mace was the
smartest man in the world. He had real learning, out of books, he'd
even finished high school and he worked in town, helping out a lawyer
sometimes.
Booz sure did have a hard cock, though. Back home, when his cock got
hard, he milked it, just like a cow and that felt better than
anything, like drinking moonshine and jumping into the rapids and
eating a candy apple all at the same time.
When he was married, he wouldn't have to play with himself no more.
His wife would have to take care of his cock any time it was hard.
She'd have to do a good job, Mama said, or else he'd need to beat her
with a switch or his belt like a bad hound dog.
`You're gonna like having a wife, son,` Mama promised. And he knew
Mama was right cause she always was.
`Sometimes you'll share your wife, too,` said Mama. `With me, if
that's all right.`
He told Mama that was fine. Mama was always right and he never argued
with her. Mace had a wife and she had to do what Mace said. Booz
remembered how when Ruby first came to the Holler she was all tied up
and they wouldn't untie her until she promised not to fight. They
wouldn't let her wear no clothes for a while, cause Mama said they had
to train her, just like a hound dog. She got beat a lot and it was
funny Booz remembered all this cause there was so much he couldn't
remember, like how long they'd been sitting here at this table
drinking drinks and watching pretty girls take their clothes off.
`Mace, what did you say this place was called?`
`It's a strip club, Booze.`
`A strip club.` That sounded familiar. Had Mace told him that
earlier? `Pretty girls take their clothes off, right? So men can
decide if they want to marry them?`
`Something like that.` Mace smiled sideways. Booz had a way of
looking at things that cut to the chase ... sometimes. For the
present, though, he had to be kept under control. `So you sure you
like this one, Booz? There's a heap more back behind them curtains.`
`I like this one.` Booz was drooling. `I want to put my cock inside
her. I want to make her do things, I want to train her like a dog, I
want to whip her. Mama said I can make her eat off the floor if I want
and put her in a cage and...`
Mace cut him off. `I told you, it ain't time yet for talking – or
doing, neither...`
`But I gotta do something.` He touched his crotch like it was
wounded. `I'm hurting bad.`
Mace considered their options. He could get them out of here now and
wait in the alley in the van until she came out after closing, but
that was a long time and someone might get suspicious. On the other
hand, if they stayed, there was no telling what Booz might do.
Mace should never have brought him along. Never mind how strong Booz
was, he should have stayed at home and been surprised by his choice of
a wife. Mace could have managed a simple kidnap on his own.
This was all Mama's fault for insisting her baby boy get a looker for
a wife. What was wrong with just rousting somebody out of the hills?
That's how he got Ruby and she was pretty enough.
This girl might as well have been in some magazine. She was a city
girl. Training her would be one huge pain in the ass. And how was she
gonna bear children and do hard work around the farm?
Before Mace could think any further, he had a whole new world of
trouble on his hands. The school girl was right in front of them,
squatting down on the stage in nothing but her g-string.
She was looking right at Booz and Mace was afraid he was gonna leap
up out of his chair and grab her.
`Hey, cowboy, you wanna feed the string?`
`What's that mean?` Booz asked Mace.
Booz' heart was thundering. They were this close to total disaster.
`She wants you to put money in her g-string,` said Mace, bracing
himself for the worst.
`Can I?` Booz' eyes lit up, though of course nobody was home. `Can I
do that, Mace, can I really?`
Mace fished a twenty from his pocket. Fuck, this could go wrong in so
many ways it wasn't even funny. `You can't touch, understand? You tuck
the twenty under the string and that's it.`
`Okay, Mace.` Booz took the money unquestioningly from his brother.
He wasn't real clear about the rules he was supposed to follow, but
then again, most rules confused him.
The music was swirling in Booz' head by now, there were colored
lights everywhere and he felt like he was at the circus. The girl was
so, so pretty, her skin was dancing, lit by the lights, he wanted to
touch her ... so bad. Why couldn't he? Why did he have to just tuck
the money?
`You're a cutie,` the girl leaned forward. Her hair was swirling
everywhere. It brushed his arm and his fingers, too. She was almost
naked. His mouth went dry. He imagined her, squatting like this, like
a little dog, back at the farm, totally under his power.
His fingers trembled as he reached for her waist. He wanted to say
something to her. But he knew Mace wouldn't like that. He wasn't
supposed to talk to people, ever, without Mace's say so. Especially
not now.
`Don't be shy, honey,` she urged.
Booz' cheeks got hot. Was she making fun of him, calling him honey
like he was a child? He didn't like that one little bit. Mama would
let him punish her for that later on. She'd be sorry, all right.
Booz couldn't get the money under the little string. He forgot to
stretch the material with his other hand first so it would fit.
`What's his problem?` the girl asked Mace.
`Don't make fun of me,` Booz warned.
Mace pulled him back, the twenty still in Booz' hand. `She ain't
making fun of you, Booz, snap out of it.`
Booz looked at Mace. `Okay.`
`He ain't all there,` said Mace to the girl. `But he likes you ... a
lot.`
The girl's expression changed, shifting into something maternal and
sympathetic. `Aw, and you brought him here? That's so sweet. It's all
right, honey, you can feed me the money, see?`
She got down on all fours, facing them. `See?` She repeated to Booz,
snapping her jaws. `You can feed me.`
`Look,` Booz exclaimed. `She wants me to feed her, just like a
doggy!`
The girl laughed. `That's right, just like a doggy.`
Mace smiled ironically. If only the little beauty knew what was on
Booz' mind. Without realizing it, she had just confirmed her place as
his brother's future possession, his wife, his slave and right-less
animal.
In a single flash, she had eliminated any future she might have had
planned for herself in exchange for a lifetime of servitude, under the
cruel authority of his savage family.
`Put the money in her mouth, Booz,` Mace coached. `Feed the dog.`
`Feed the dog,` he nodded enthusiastically.
The girl's jaws clamped tight, pearl white teeth, teasing blue eyes.
Her full breasts hung down, swaying as she backed up, the money
carefully retained.
`Over here,` a man was shouting, a bill in each hand. `Over here.`
The stripper gave Mace and Booz a wink. `Gotta run ... bye.`
`Where is she going?` Booz wanted to know. `She's mine.`
`Patience,` Mace growled. `Do you want to ruin everything?`
`Oh, no,` Booz assured him. `I don't want to ruin everything.`
`Then shut up. For once in your cotton picking life, shut up.` Mace
didn't mean to get angry, but he could only take so much. Besides, he
needed some space to think.
Booz was mad, too, and confused. But he shut up, just like Mace said.
Things immediately started flying through his head, word pictures,
which Mace said were ideas. There were a lot of them, most of which he
couldn't follow.
One was real clear, though, like a kite on the end of a pretty string
floating in the sky. He was not going to leave this place without the
girl, no matter what he had to do. She was his now and she was going
to have to accept that. Everyone else would have to also.
If Booz needed to, he would fight everyone. Even Mace.
`I'm taking her home, Mace,` said Booz. `Tonight.`
Mace braced himself. There was no turning back. `I know,` he said.
Now if only he could figure out a damn way to do it. He needed a plan
and he needed it fast. Something that would allow them to gift wrap
this little honey to put under Booz' tree. Not to mention beneath the
heel of his size twelve boot.
A million to one shot? Sure. But that's what big brothers were for.
* * * *
Nikki couldn't wait to get out on the floor. Those two brothers were
way hot, especially the one who acted real simple and funny. He talked
like a child, though his hard young body was all male. He could have
been one of those wrestlers on television, only better looking. He
could have been a movie star, too. So could his brother, though he
wasn't as big and strong.
She liked the simple one's hair, which was long and brown and tied
back in a pony tail. He had green eyes and chiseled features. He was
wearing a Western style shirt and a string tie. He had dungarees and a
huge cock, clearly outlined in its hardness. She wanted so bad to sit
on it. To grind her shapely ass against him, to brush her lips over
his, to drive him out of his fucking mind.
Speaking of which, her friend Delores thought Nikki was out of her
mind.
`You got some kind of fetish for retards?` she asked with typical
bluntness as they sat side by side at the dressing room mirror,
changing into their floor outfits, spangled bikini tops and fresh g
string bottoms.
`Watch your mouth,` she chided the older woman. `That's no way to
talk.`
`In my day,` said the forty something woman, `We called a spade a
spade.`
`He's cute,` Nikki dabbed on a little makeup. `And he looks lonely.`
`Careful girl,` warned the platinum, over-dyed blonde. `You start
mixing pity with business and you'll be on the fast road to the side
walk.`
`You're always so cynical. Haven't you ever once felt anything ...
personal?`
`Sure, lots of times. And I've regretted it each and every one.`
Nikki stood up. `Well that's your experience. It doesn't have to be
mine.`
She left the changing room quickly before she had a chance to start
crying. Life was shitty enough without her having to be reminded of
it. Couldn't Nikki do one nice thing for someone – and maybe feel
something nice in return?
Nineteen years old, with no past worth remembering and nobody to call
her own ... nothing to mark her time on the earth but a growing bank
account. Which admittedly was nice, but sooner or later she'd want to
share it with someone.
Too many problems to think about. For now she wanted to make someone
happy. Just one person – the tall, dark stranger with the big hands
who couldn't get a twenty under her g-string.
There was something about him that was hard to peg. He excited her,
in a mysterious way. Both these men had something about them. When she
went down on all fours for the money, she had felt oddly ...
contained. Like she wasn't really making her own choice or setting her
own boundaries.
She didn't dare tell that to Delores. The older woman would have
called for security and had the men thrown out. She was protective of
Nikki, just like she was her own daughter. Delores had her own
daughter once, long ago, but she had lost her to the state. An unfit
mother, they said. A danger to her own offspring.
Talk about a blow to the heart, a cut to the quick. How did you ever
get over something like that? Nikki told her not to worry, that kids
grow up okay in spite of things and her daughter was lucky to have a
mother who loved her, even if she didn't know her. Unlike Nikki's own
mother who stayed in her life making it a living hell until she ran
away at age sixteen.
The big man was the first to see Nikki as she walked out on the
floor. She made her way slowly, provocatively in her white thong and
matching demi-bra. Both were covered in red sequins.
`Mace,` he told his brother. `There she is. Look.`
`Don't point,` said the one called Mace. `How many time I got to tell
you it's not polite.`
`That's okay,` Nikki told Mace. `He doesn't mean any harm.`
`I don't?` The big man looked puzzled – so totally cute that Nikki
could just eat him alive.
`No, honey, of course you don't.` Nikki bent down, planting a kiss on
his cheek. His skin was clean and smelled like a man. A good country
man and not one of those lying urban thugs she'd had more than her
fill of.
`This is Booz,` Mace introduced. `What's your name?`
`You can call me Nikki,` she said.
`Nik-ki,` Booz repeated, giving the pronunciation a whole lot more
attention than it deserved. `That's a pretty name, just like you.`
`Thank you, Booz. I like your name, too.`
`Uh huh. Know what, Nikki? I have a Mama, I do.` Booz nodded
significantly.
`That's good, babe,` said Nikki.
`She's my Mama.`
`Well, yea she is.` Nikki giggled.
`That's enough, Booz,` Mace cautioned. `Remember how I told you not
to talk too much?`
`I don't mind if he talks.` Nikki brushed her hair back over her
shoulders. It was damp from being on stage, under the hot lights. `He
can talk while I do a lap dance.`
`Mace, what's a lap dance?` asked Booz.
`It means Nikki's gonna touch you, in different places,` he said,
displaying the sort of patience one uses on a slow child. `We just
talked about it, remember?`
`Oh, yea, and I'm not gonna touch her back,` said Booz. `You told me
that, too, right?`
`Yea.` Mace was looking around uneasily.
`Maybe we better skip this, Booz,` he said.
`No, I want to,` Nikki rasped.
Something was overcoming her ... something she knew she shouldn't pay
attention to. Emotions, mixing with business, always a bad idea. It
wasn't exactly that she felt sorry for Booz, she just wanted to make
him happy, in a really personal way.
`I'll give you a hundred,` said Mace.
`Keep it,` she heard herself say. `This one's on the house.`
A moment later, she was touching him, brushing her finger tips over
his cheek. He felt so solid, so complete, so ... satisfying.
Booz drew a sudden breath, like he'd been pricked by a pin.
She marveled at his innocence. She was sure of it now, he was a
virgin.
`You've never been with a girl, honey?`
`I been a lot of places ... with girls and boys.`
`I mean sex, silly.`
His lips curled downward. `You're not supposed to talk like that.
Mama says that's bad. You're a bad girl.`
Nikki felt something in her belly ... a secret, dark flipping. `I'm
sorry,` she whispered. `I won't do it again.`
`You can't be bad. And you can't be mean to me, either,` he told
her.
`I won't, Booz,` she promised. `I'll only be good to you.`
`You're so pretty,` Booz sighed.
Nikki's heart swelled, like she'd never heard the compliment before.
Somehow from Booz's lips it sounded so real and sincere. `Thank you,
Booz. Will you pull out your chair for me? So I can give you the lap
dance?`
Booz checked with Mace, who said it was okay. Booz wasn't too sure
what to expect, but he sure did want to have the girl touch her.
`What's your name?` he asked her, cause he couldn't remember.
`I'm Nikki, baby. Do you like that name?`
`I like it,` said Booz. `And I like you.`
Nikki was smiling, in a way she hadn't done for quite some time.
Doing this for free made her feel good, like she wasn't just a slut
for hire. She wanted Booz to smile, too. He had such nice eyes, deep
and green, curious like a little child's and full of life.
First thing she did was to put her fingers to her lips. Quickly,
almost shyly she transferred the kiss, from her lips to his. A little
shiver went down her spine. Nikki wished she could kiss him for real.
She wished this Booz could hold her in his arms. He would make her
feel safe, he would help her shut away all the bad things.
And he wouldn't hurt her. A man like this couldn't hurt a girl, no
matter what. At least that's what she wanted to believe.
`You taste good,` said Booz after she took her finger away.
`Thank you,` Nikki blushed.
Imagine that, she thought, a nineteen-year-old tramp like her,
feeling like a virgin all over again. Oh, well, at least I've never
had a kid. Or an abortion.
Nikki ran her fingers through her hair, doing a little gyration for
him. `Do you like my body, Booz?`
`I do, Nikki, I'd like to put my pecker in it. Right there. And
there, too.`
Nikki almost died on the spot.
`Booz,` his brother growled. `Shut your cotton picking mouth, right
now.`
`What'd I say, Mace?`
`What didn't you say, you confounded idiot.`
`It's okay,` Nikki assured. `Really. I find the honesty ...
refreshing.`
`You do?` Mace blinked. Fuck, he thought, this might prove a cake
walk after all. `In that case, have at it.`
Nikki bent forward, pushing her breasts toward Booz' face. `Do you
like these, Booz? Do you like my tits?`
He nodded furiously. `I do. I'd like to–`
Mace stepped on his foot, cutting him off. He'd been pretty sure Booz
was about to talk about whipping or some such shit. That would scare
her off for sure.
`You'd like to what, Booz?`
`I don't remember,` he shrugged.
Nikki grinned. `You're a trip.` She let him smell her hair now,
waving it across his face. She could hear him, groaning. How big was
he, she wondered and what would he be like in bed? Someone would have
to be his first. Why not her?
Booz was breathing quicker. Nikki turned herself around, sitting on
his lap. Oh, god, she could feel that cock. She ground herself against
it, leaning hard into his chest. He was pure muscle. She wanted to be
fucked by this bad boy in the worst way.
Reaching behind her with both hands, leaning back, nipples pointing
straight up, she found his cheeks. Sculpted, baby smooth with just the
barest hint of stubble. She felt so female like this, so totally sexy
and right. It was a little dangerous, too, though, on account of the
waves of weakness passing through her.
A boy ... a man like this could make her do anything. Assuming he had
the brainpower. Which he didn't. That left the brother, who was a much
tougher customer. Hard to peg. Not really warm and fuzzy, but he
clearly loved his brother and he was here taking care of him.
Maybe Mace was the one Nikki was attracted to. Fuck, it was hard
being a girl. A lonely girl with no boyfriend and no friends period
except for a bunch of cynical bouncers and round the bend strippers.
Damn, I'm cranky, she thought. Cranky and horny.
I need to get laid.
I need to get laid tonight.
These guys are strangers. They could be serial killers. Freaks from
another dimension. I could end up a statistic – serves her right
they'll say, the loose little slut, taking her clothes off for money,
going with men she doesn't love just to get satisfaction deep down
inside.
`Mace,` said Booz. `I'm gonna shoot off in my pants.`
`You can't do that, Booz. You got to hold it back.`
`I can't. Tell her to take off her clothes, make her spread her legs,
Mace. I need to put it in her, before I shoot it all over myself.`
Nikki hopped off his lap. `Booz, I can't do that, honey.`
`You have to,` he said, raising his voice a notch. `Mace, make her do
it, do it like Mama would.`
Vinny and Gil moved in fast, pushing Nikki behind them.
`You two have outstayed your welcome,` said Vinny.
`We're going,` said Mace. `We don't want trouble.`
Gil, the hotter head of the two approached, fists clenched. `It's too
late for that.`
Gil reached for Booz, wanting to drag him to his feet. It was Nikki
who intervened, much to everyone's amazement.
`Gil, please don't hurt him.`
Gil frowned. `Nikki, it's my job.`
Two more of the bouncers had gathered, a pack of wolves, smelling
blood.
`Please,` said Nikki, leaning into Gil, who'd wanted her since he
came to the club a month ago to assume the position of head bartender.
`I'll make it worth your while.`
He eyed her. `You serious?`
`Yea,` she rasped, scarcely believing herself that she would trade
her body for those of the two strangers.
`After work,` he told her. `You're mine until dawn.`
Nikki nodded, her heart racing. Gil was the kind of man put fear in
her heart. He was strong, good looking but with hints of meanness. Men
like that kept things under wraps in public, but when they had girls
naked, behind closed doors, you could never know what to expect.
`Nikki,` said Vinny. `What's gotten into you?`
`Mind your business, Vin,` Gil growled.
`Fuck you,` said Vinny.
Nikki put herself between them.
Gil put his hand on her hip, distracted. `You better be good,` he
leaned in close, his breath hot in her ear.
Nikki shivered, retreating to the bar.
`What did he say?` Vinny demanded, following her over.
She asked Laverne the bartender for a cigarette. `It's nothing,` she
told the pony-tailed ex-boxer with the twice broken nose.
`The fuck it is,` he grumbled.
Nikki shrugged. The two men were leaving. Mace had somehow talked
Booz into going quietly. A part of her wondered what would have
happened if there had been a fight. Booz was badly outnumbered, but he
was the strongest man she'd ever seen.
It wouldn't be a fair fight, though. Gil would get out his brass
knuckles. They'd beat the tar out of him and Mace, too.
Don't come back, she willed as they walked out the door. Find
yourselves a whole lot better place, back where you belong ...
wherever that is.
`They knew better than to fuck with me,` bragged Gil, fresh from his
unearned victory over the strangers. `Couple of pansies. Should have
saved your ass for something bigger, sweetie.`
Gil cupped her bottom so Vinny could see. `A little something for you
to jerk off to,` he winked.
Nikki took his hand away. `Not here, Gil.`
Gil's eyes narrowed. `You'll sing a different tune by tomorrow, baby.
I put my hand on you – it'll stay, when and how I like it.`
`Not if I break it off first,` said Vinny.
Gil chuckled, swaggering off. `Whatever you say, princess.`
`You can't tell me you're gonna give yourself to that pig,` said
Vinny after Gil had gone.
Nikki didn't feel like justifying herself. `Just drop it, Vinny.`
Vinny leaned over the bar, awkward. `Nikki, it's just that–`
`I said drop it,` she repeated, walking away because she was pretty
sure she knew what was coming next. Vinny had been on the verge of it
for months. An idiotic profession of love or some such thing.
How could a guy so big and tough who'd been around the block so many
times be that naive?
Grow up, she wanted to tell him. Keep your heart to yourself before
you hurt someone.
Nikki learned that lesson young. She had a mother with the heart of a
Nazi sadist, watching for signs of weakness, anything Nikki loved,
anything special she found a way to destroy. From dolls to Ozzie her
dog ... and bigger things, too. Things she didn't talk about to
anyone.
She had help in that department. From the so-called boyfriends she
brought home to the trailer, glorified tricks and meal tickets.
The street was an improvement for Nikki. And so was this place. She
would stay here as long as she looked good enough to bring in the
money and she would save as much as she could and then she would run
away somewhere, an island maybe in the Caribbean and no one knew that
about her, no one at all, how she wanted to walk naked on a beach, dig
her toes on the sand, not worrying about having to shake her golden
ass to get men hard or cradle her fortuitously firm tits.
So Vinny loved her? Who didn't? She got slurred, whisky inspired
proposals every day. Men wanting to buy her yachts, suck champagne
from her shoes, take her on African safaris. Most of them were full of
shit, but, hey, it's the thought that counts.
And right now her thoughts were on getting tonight over with ... as
quickly and quietly as humanly possible.
The next couple of hours crawled by. Talk about creepy, every time
she turned around, there was Gil, watching, winking, drooling and
otherwise chomping at the bit.
`Make it snappy,` he followed her into the dressing room after
closing time. `My dick's ready to explode in my pants.`
`Thanks for the graphic, Gil.` She pulled off her costume and tossed
it into her gym bag with disgust.
`Can the sarcasm,` he warned. `I told you, things are changing
between us.`
She got right in his face. `The hell they are. You got one night,`
she pointed a manicured, electric blue nail. `Come tomorrow, you go
back to shit status in my book. Less than that if you're half as lousy
a lover as I think.`
Gil grinned, cockeyed. `Oh, yea,` he rasped, taking her breast in his
hand. `I'm gonna enjoy taming you.`
Nikki's breath quickened. He was a loathsome man, but he was strong
and he knew what he wanted ... and he was prepared to take it.
`I need to take a shower,` she said, unable to move.
Gil caressed her, working the nipple to tightness. She felt cords
being pulled all the way down to her pussy. Could he smell her
arousal?
`Permission denied,` he said. `You'll dress as you are.`
She drew a sharp breath, wanting to say something nasty. Nothing came
out. Her limbs trembled. Damn it, he had her already. What kind of
slut was she, responding to this kind of sexual control?
This was why she didn't date, why she didn't trust her instincts with
men. God help her if she ever did go with someone who loved her – she
would spiral straight down to hell.
`Skip the underwear,` Gil ordered.
Nikki pulled her denim skirt up over her bare pussy. She was dripping
wet, and not just the sweat. Gil stuffed her panties in the pocket of
his leather jacket. `These will make a nice gag,` he said.
Nikki's stomach knotted. She shouldn't let this go any further, she
should get the hell out of here, scream for help, anything.
`You all right?` Delores asked.
`Yea,` she forced a smile. `I'm fine.`
`Beat it,` said Gil to Delores.
Delores waited for confirmation from her young friend.
`I'll talk to you tomorrow,` said Nikki.
Delores didn't look happy. `If you're sure.`
`She's sure.` Gil handed Nikki her shirt.
She pulled it over her head, watching Delores leave. The jersey clung
to her naked breasts.
`That's a good look for you.` Gil took her sandals out of her locker,
tossed them down by his feet. `Put them on.`
Nikki had to bend over. Gil took advantage, flipping up her skirt. He
played with her pussy, toying at her with a dangling finger the whole
time she tried to put on the dainty, strappy little shoes.
Nikki released a moan, ashamed of how easy she was being.
`If you come before I tell you,` he said. `I'm going to punish you.`
She straightened herself, desperate to fight back her primal,
submissive desires. `Gil, this is going too far.`
`Too far? We haven't even started yet.` Gil's fingers went to her
mouth. `Suck,` he commanded.
Nikki accepted them, covered in her own come.
`You have a nice little mouth,` he commented. `We'll test it on the
drive back to my place.`
Nikki imagined herself in the passenger seat, her head in Gil's lap,
head bobbing, satisfying his bouncer's erection.
`You like that idea, don't you?`
He lifted her chin. `I asked you a question.`
Nikki had never felt like this. It wasn't just Gil, it was those two
guys tonight, something about them was getting her down deep. She
couldn't put her finger on it, all she knew was that they hadn't come
here for the normal reasons, the normal thrills.
They were searching for something ... for the right kind of woman.
Someone like her. But who were they and where were they from? They
were so very different, they didn't fit in, just like she didn't. They
were simple, country people and they wanted to take her out of the
smog and away from the concrete.
Or was this just more of her stupid daydreaming?
`I'm waiting, Nikki.` His fingers were pushing back her head, to the
point of pain, forcing her to look him in the eye.
`You're hurting me...`
`That's only the beginning.`
`Yes,` she hissed. `Is that what you want to hear?`
`What I want to hear is you saying it. What do you want to do on the
way to my place?`
`I want...` Her throat was dry. Deep, dark desire uncoiled, ready to
play into his hands, to be his victim ... for one night. `I want to
suck you ... in your car.`
`You swallow come, Nikki?`
`No.`
`You'll swallow mine.`
`Yes.`
`Yes Sir.`
`Yes, Sir.`
Gil kissed her, scraping his teeth on hers. He pushed his mouth hard,
locking lips. She couldn't breathe. She had nowhere to go but against
him, his hands playing with her ass at will, his pecs flattening her
tits, his thigh forcing her legs apart.
He took his fill, then released her for a fresh tongue lashing.
`You know what it's like, Nikki, watching little girls like you take
off your clothes every night, parading your fine tight little bodies?
You know what it's like to bust ass protecting you from all those hard
cocks? Never getting the satisfaction of screwing any of you little
dick teasers? Well you're not gonna tease tonight, are you, baby?`
`N-no,` she stammered.
`What did you say?`
`No, Sir,` she corrected herself.
`What are you gonna do instead?`
`I – I don't know, Sir.`
`You're gonna do what you're told, that's what you're gonna do,` he
supplied. `You're gonna fuck and suck and crawl and anything else I
want, isn't that right?`
`Yes, Sir,` she gasped as he grabbed her neck. Where the hell had
everyone gone? Where they really the last ones left?
His stare was the most intense of any man she'd ever known. He was
inches from her face, pure rage, pure testosterone. `I own you, Nikki.
Say, it.`
`You own me.`
`On your knees. I want a little taste of your slavery.`
She thought he might have changed his mind about having her suck him
off in the car, but it was only a kiss he wanted.
Nikki pressed her lips to his crotch, tasting it through the material
of his pants. Submission. Domination. Sex. Pure and raw.
His fingers glommed her hair. `I told you,` he yanked her back to her
feet. `Things would change.`
She tried to rub herself against him; she was so worked up. `Take me,
Gil. Here ... now.`
`Not until I say so.` He denied her, pushing her towards the back
door. `I want you good and needy first.`
`Yes, Sir,` said Nikki, wondering how much needier she could get.
Gil smacked her ass, hard. `That's a girl.`
Nikki burned, humiliated and titillated. She could already imagine
the taste of his cock, hard and thick, pulsing in her throat, in and
out, in and out until he came, releasing his semen.
And that would only be the beginning.
What other tricks were there up the big man's sleeve? Short, blonde
crew cut, cruel jaw, with his big hands and bulging muscles.
Sweet and sleek, wicked, but not like Booz.
What the hell was Booz short for anyway?
Nikki got into Gil's car, lowering herself into the leather seat of
the expensive racer.
`Buckle up,` he winked, closing the door behind her.
Nikki clicked the belt into place. Interlocking pieces of metal. The
tight cinch across her waist and between her breasts.
Captive.
At the mercy of a man I despise ... and lust for all at once.
Gil was just about to get in the driver's side when the van tapped
their rear bumper. A pair of men got out. The smaller one ran to her
side opening the door. The bigger one had his hands on Gil, lifting
him like a plaything.
Booz!
`What the–` Gil was in the air, held aloft. Booz threw him down onto
the hood of his car, denting it badly.
`Gil,` she cried.
`He'll be all right,` said Mace. `Let's get you out of here.`
She let Mace guide her. The next thing she knew she was in their van.
Speeding away.
`Welcome aboard,` said Mace, behind the wheel.
Booz was in the back seat with her, as far away as he could manage.
`Hi,` he said.
`Hi back,` she replied, the whole thing kind of surreal.
`You got pretty hands,` said Booz.
She let him take hold of her fingers. His grip was all man, but
strangely gentle, too, curious and open. `Let me do something for
you,` she whispered.
Before he could answer she went to work on his zipper, her hands
hungry for the feel of cock, her ears burning for the sound of moaning
... yes ... Nikki, yes...
She made the trade, caressing his sex in exchange for his hand, which
she put between her legs. `Oh, honey,` she ground her sex, rubbing her
clit against his knuckle. `Make me come, make Nikki come.`
`Fuck ... fuck, yea...` She took his dick deep in her mouth, suckling
and slurping as the orgasm racked her body. Deep and powerful, pent up
animal passions from a night full of strangeness ... unprecedented
lust.
`Mace,` Booz groaned. `I'm gonna blow.`
`It's okay, let her have it,` Mace approved.
Booz came hot and hard, a full load, thick gobs which she drank down
eagerly. Gulp. Gulp. Gulp.
She thought of Gil's words. Barely an hour ago – but it felt like a
lifetime.
Do you swallow, Nikki?
You'll swallow me.
The taste was salty, not unpleasant. It made her feel full and weak
and womanly. She was so sleepy. Groggy. Exhausted. She came up for
air, leaning her head on Booz' shoulder. `Just gonna close my eyes a
minute...`
Christ, she hadn't even told them where she lived. This was crazy.
`Lay her out on the seat,` she heard Mace say. `Use these.`
He handed something back. Metal clinking.
Nikki was on her belly, cool leather on her cheek. Booz took her
arms, gathered them behind her back.
Click, click went the bracelets. Nikki pulled at her wrists. She was
in handcuffs. `What are you doing?` she demanded.
`There's chloroform,` said Mace. `Use it. Now.`
Nikki squirmed. Booz' hand was on her back holding her down. `Get off
me,` she cried.
The rag was dirty and wet. It had a chemical in it – that chloroform
stuff, must be.
She held her breath.
`Plug her fucking nose, Booz. Make her breathe it.`
Booz shut off her air. One second stretched to twenty. She held out
as long as she could until finally she had to give in, her lungs
unable to follow the lead of her head.
Gasping, drinking down the poison air.
Nikki tried to hold on to consciousness. She thought about the bleach
her mother used to make her use to clean the floor of the trailer. On
her hands and knees, nine years old while mama went off to drink or
party or fuck lovers in her bedroom.
Don't you miss a spot, girl, or I'll beat you blind.
Rolling pins, over the shoulders, upside the head.
Nikki needed that now, the anger, the fight inside her that kept her
alive.
But the chemical was too strong. These men were too strong.
The last thing she remembered was Booz, rubbing the back of her
silky, auburn hair. `Nice doggie,` he was saying. `Good doggie.`
Nikki opened her mouth to object, but there was nothing there, just
an empty space, a black hole. She fell into it, straight down to
oblivion.
* * * *
Gil was this close to punching out a cop. `God damn it, I don't care
what resources you got or don't got,` he threw the man's statement
back in his face. `We got a woman's life at stake!`
The detective, overworked and cynical, put his pad back in his
pocket. `Look, Sir, I told you we'll follow up. We put out an alert,
we got half the police force out looking, but you can't expect us to
send the other half, too.`
`Why the hell can't I?` thundered the big man, vowing never to
forgive himself for letting this happen.
`Sir, you need to calm down.` This from a uniformed officer, behind
the detective, his face emerging from the shadows into the warm red of
the flashing ambulance lights. Gil was going to need stitches but he
was refusing to go to the hospital until he had assurance they were
going to hunt down Nikki's kidnappers.
`I don't need to do anything, officer. You don't understand, she's a
good kid. Don't just judge her for being a stripper.`
`We're not judging anyone.` The detective loosened his tie. He had
his badge hung over the pocket of his sports jacket. His hair was
black and slightly mussed. He had the kind of looks the chicks went
for, chiseled features, complete with five o-clock shadow and piercing
dark eyes. `We apprehend criminals. Twelve hours a day, sometimes
more. Then we go home and collapse. We're human, just like you. At
this point the best thing you can do is get your face fixed up as
quickly as possible so we can show you some pictures, see if you can
ID the two suspects. If we get a match, we can go through the
computers.`
Gil pushed away the medics for the umpteenth time. So he'd been
smashed into a car hood hard enough to make it dent? He'd had worse
war wounds. With all the adrenalin pumping he couldn't even feel the
pain. Or maybe it was the shot of morphine.
`What are you talking about computers? They're gonna rape her,` he
pointed at the cop. `They're gonna kill her. And you fucks are just
standing here.`
The uniformed officer stepped forward. The detective put out his
hand. `Leave him be.` To Gil he said. `Get in the ambulance, Sir. This
is your last warning. It's that or the back of a police car.`
Gil spit at his feet, spattering the detective's leather shoe with
blood. `Public servant, my ass.`
It wasn't until Gil was laid out on the stretcher, the ambulance
tearing down the street that it really hit him.
Two psychos had taken one of the girls he was supposed to be
protecting. He'd let his dick do the thinking for him and this was the
result. First, letting the fuckers stay in the club in the first place
and then messing around with Nikki after hours.
She would have been fine if he had left her alone. She would have
stuck to her routine, taken a taxi with Delores and woken up the next
morning safe and sound in her bed.
Reason said that might not be true – that the psychos might have
gotten her otherwise – but he wasn't listening to reason.
Just to guilt and fear.
And the nagging feeling that something was wrong with his life, deep
down, the way he went around with a chip on his shoulder, hating the
girls, punishing them and picking fights.
I'm sorry, Nikki. I let you down. I was a fucking pig instead of
being a man. I hope they don't fix my face right at all, I hope
there's big goddamn scars to always remind me.
I hope you come home...
* * * *
Detective Nick Malloy watched the ambulance pull away.
`Piece of work, that one,` muttered Mike Dempsey, hands on his gun
belt.
`Yea,` said Nick, though he understood the bouncer's emotions pretty
well. Losing something precious and there's not a damned thing you can
do about it.
Except in his case, the woman was lost to cancer. He knew where she
was, it was just that she was in a metal box, six feet under the
ground. Not a lot of good when you want to come home after a long day
and sit by the fire or make love on the soft, bear skin rug.
His Christine would be thirty-three today. Two years, six months and
a day since her death.
`I'll tell you what really gets my goat,` said Mike, never one to shy
away from volunteering his opinion. `Having to do the damned paperwork
on this. You know it was some jealous lovers spat. Or the girl's pimp
showing up. I'll bet anything we track her down and she tells us to
fuck off.`
`Probably.` Nick had forgotten about the photo. He was still holding
it. Gil had gotten it from inside the club, off one of the bulletin
boards. He took a second look, at the happy young woman, sitting on
the lap of a white bearded man. There were other girls, too, all
gathered around. They had hats on, there was a cake. A birthday party,
must be.
Oldest story in the book, right? How did a nice girl like her, all
pink cheeked and clear eyed, end up in a business like this. Putting
her way through school, saving up for early retirement, paying for her
sick aunt's operation ... or maybe she like to see her body move,
liked the power she had over the men, the bankers and lawyers.
`Hey, Mike,` said Nick to the indiscrete Dempsey, who never seemed to
grasp the connection between his attitude and his lack of promotion
beyond patrolmen. `You think you can get somebody on the night shift
to finish this up?`
`No prob, Niko. You should have been done five hours ago as it is.
Hell, it's not like we get overtime anymore.`
`I wish. Take it easy, Mike. And thanks.`
`Have a couple of drinks on me,` Mike winked. `You're off the next
two days, ain't you?`
`Yep.`
`Lucky bastard. And single, too. I hope you find some real nice piece
to crawl into bed with the next forty-eight hours. I'll think of you
while I'm sleeping with my old lady, the three hundred pound
gorilla.`
Nick nodded and headed for his car. Typical Mike, reminding a widower
of his sentence, a lifetime's loneliness without parole.
He set Nikki's picture down, turned the engine on, intent on going
home for a drink of scotch. Twice, three times he glanced down at it.
`Fuck,` he said under his breath.
He made a U turn, right there in the street, his brain kicking into
gear, running the evidence. A 1980's panel van, dark blue, dented,
license plate unknown. Two unidentified male suspects, origins
unknown.
One female victim, five foot five inches tall, approximately one
hundred twenty pounds, auburn hair, green eyes, Caucasian.
Talk about finding a needle in a haystack.
He did have two days to dedicate, though.
That and a strange determination. Born of impulses, indescribable,
but very, very strong.
Nick was going to find this girl. Alive.
And he was going to kill her kidnappers.
| 
