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.
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