Chapter One

 

It was a large and beautifully furnished basement. There was room for a pool table, a bar, a fireplace and set of sofas. There was also a full sized bathroom. The ceiling was higher than normal, and dry-walled, with pot-lights, not like those cheap drop ceiling panels in older basements.

And it was empty, and had been empty for some time, since they'd built the addition on the house, in fact, and moved the pool table up there. Those were in better times, though, before Charles lost his job. Oh, he'd found another, but not at quite the same salary, and things just kept getting more expensive.

It only made sense to get some use out of the basement, especially since it had an outside exit. So Charles replaced the bar with a small kitchen, put a lock on the door which led upstairs, and then looked for a tenant, perhaps a college student, whose rent would help reinforce his income.

***

He looked pretty nerdy. That was Amy's observation of the guy her father showed the downstairs too. He spoke quietly, carried a book bag over his shoulder, and had Harry Potter glasses on his nose. He wasn't exactly the kind of guy she had hoped would wind up living with them.

Well, not living with them, in that sense. He would be downstairs, behind a locked door. Of course, the door only locked on this side. And her father had put a narrow corridor in from the bottom of the stairs leading to the furnace room, store room and laundry room. So there would be another locked door for the 'tenant'.

A college boy, she thought, with equal parts sneer and jealousy. She had no intention of going to college. School was boring! She hated having to sit still and listen to old people drone on about junk she hadn't the slightest interest in! And so far, she hadn't found anything she did have interest in, except boys, and dancing, and clothes.

She worked at Denny's, which wasn't a great job, but it was a job, and it left her days free to watch TV or go to the mall and hang out with her friends, at least, the ones that hadn't gone to college and didn't have jobs.

Her father was a business analyst. She wasn't entirely sure what that was except it sounded mind numbingly boring. Her mother sold real estate. That seemed marginally more interesting, but you had to be nice to people and persuade them to buy something or else you got nothing.

The upside was they made enough money to buy a nice house with a pool. Of course, since her brother and sister had gone off to university the place seemed kind of empty. That was one of the reasons her dad had decided to rent out the basement, of course.

It would have been cool if he'd rented it out to some really hot, sexy guy, but she supposed that was always too much to hope for. Then again, they'd probably just be snobs, whoever they were, looking down at her for not going to college.

They came back upstairs, but she made no effort to edge closer. The guy was wearing a sweater with the collar peaking out above. She made a face. What a dork!

"Ah, Darrell, this is my daughter Amy," he said jovially.

She sighed as her father insisted on leading the dork over to her. She stepped down the stairs indulgently. She would be polite anyway. It wasn't like he was bad looking, really. He had decent shoulders on him. And he was a Black guy. She'd never actually had anything to do with Black guys. She'd gone to a private school and there weren't any there.

"Hi!" he said, holding out his hand. "Great to meet you!"

"Uh, hi," she said, shaking his hand doubtfully.

"Amy is working in a restaurant for now. She just graduated from high school and hasn't decided what she wants to do with her life," her father said with a sigh.

Amy shrugged, while nerdy Darrell smiled and nodded. "Well, university isn't for everyone," he said. "There are a lot of jobs out there which are rewarding and don't require further education."

What did he mean by that, she thought in irritation. University wasn't for everyone? Who wasn't it for? Dummies? Did he think he was smarter than her? He couldn't even manage to dress himself!

Her father led him to the front door and she rolled her eyes, then went back upstairs. Not much chance things were going to be less dull because of this guy!

***

"You got the place?"

"Fuckin' A!" Darrell said, giving Leon a high five.

"A white family rented a room to a nigger boy?"

"Leon, all you gotta do is act white and they'll love you," Darrell said with a grin.

He changed his voice, and then pulled the glasses out of his pocket and put them on. Leon laughed and pointed at them. "Where the fuck you get those?"

"I purchased them at a retail establishment, Leon," Darrell said in a soft voice which articulated ever word.

"You don't wear glasses, bitch."

"I'm aware of that, Leon," Darrell said. "However, they do give me a properly intellectual look."

"Uh huh."

"It's a nice place," he said, taking off the unneeded glasses. "Big, got a fucking fireplace."

"No shit?"

"And got this little blonde girl upstairs named Amy who I am going to cream on till she's fucking drowning in it."

Leon laughed. "She all that?"

"She's all that, man! Nice tits, nice ass, sweet lips that I know have never been wrapped around no nigger cock. I'm gonna pop that cherry, and every other cherry that little bitch has! I'm gonna fuck that tight ass, and fuck that pretty mouth and fuck her tight little pussy!"

"I get seconds on that, man?" Leon asked with a grin.

"Sure! I'm gonna turn that bitch out, man!"

Leon laughed and shook his head.

"Well, this place sure sounds better than the dorm."

"Fuck the dorm. Fuck everyone in the dorm."

"You already done that, at least the girls."

Darrell smirked. He'd had more than his share of success, that was true. Especially among the white girls, for whom he was something of a novelty. He'd been a lot of freshmen girls' first Black guy, and probably their last. But that was okay, there were always more freshmen coming in.

But he'd broken the rules a few too many times, made too much noise, had his friends crashing over too often, got caught with the smell, if not the actual substance of marijuana in his room, not to mention beer and whiskey, and mouthed off to the staff too often. So he was being booted out.

That turned out to be a good thing, though. This place was way nicer, and only about five minutes walk off campus! It did cost more, that was true, but he would manage that, one way or another. It had been a couple of years since he'd dealt drugs, but he knew where he could get some grass cheap, and there were always lots of customers on campus.

Maybe that Amy chick would like some. Oh, sure, what he said to Leon was bravado, but he sure wouldn't mind tearing off a piece of that white bitch. He doubted it would happen if he was dressed like he was today, of course, but he didn't plan on dressing like that much. As for the glasses, he'd keep those and the goofy sweater for any future dealings with his new landlord.

***

It was the music which drew her attention. Amy was home alone, as she often was during the day. That was usually a chance to slouch on the sofa and surf through all the channels on the seventy inch flat screen mounted to the wall.

When the deep bass thumping started up she blinked in surprise, then annoyance. It was coming from the new college boy in the basement, and it was hip hop. She made a face. At least it wasn't opera or something. Still, it was kind of loud. It would drive her father nuts, she thought in amusement. He loathed hip-hop.

She turned up the sound and flicked through more channels for a bit, then decided to go see what nerd boy had done with the room. She had an excuse, after all. She got up, unlocked the basement door, and made her way down the carpeted stairs, the music getting louder the further down she got.

At the foot of the stairs was a narrow corridor now, going right, to where the storage room, laundry, furnace, and the door which led out to the back yard were. The new door was right in front of her, and made of glass panels, with a curtain across them.

She knocked firmly on the glass, keeping an insouciant look on her face. She was definitely not impressed by college boys, after all, especially nerds.

He pulled open the door and grinned at her.

"Hey, babe," he said in a high voice she hardly heard over the music.

He turned his back on her and went back inside, and she followed, a bit surprised at his appearance. He was just wearing a tank top with no arms, and jeans. And his arms looked very nicely toned too. He wasn't wearing the goofy glasses, either.

The music turned way down as she looked around, and he came back from the computer on the desk.

"Amy, right?" he said.

"Yeah," she said. "I don't think my dad is going to be too happy if you play your music that loudly."

"I figured I was alone in the house," he said.

"I work evenings."

The place looked pretty nice, she thought grudgingly. There was a black leather sofa and chair by the fireplace, and a flat screen sitting off to the side. Darrell had apparently been sitting at a table in the corner where the computer was, for some papers and a book were open there.

"Playing hooky from school?" she asked.

He grinned and shook his head. "Nah, classes are at different times, and I got some spares in places. My next class ain't for a couple of hours. So where you work, baby?"

She raised her eyebrows a bit at the 'baby' but he really did look kind of... cute.

"Denny's" she sighed.

"Denny's? Why the fuck you work there?"

"Because they offered."

He laughed. "Shit, babe. You ain't getting no tips at fuckin' Denny's. You need to get into one of them places with the little kilts and the tight tops, you know."

He rubbed his fingers together. "Middle aged guys give you big tips if you got nice legs and decent boobs. And yours look pretty decent."

She flushed at the compliment, not displeased.

"I don't think I want old guys staring at me all the time."

"Baby, old guys gonna stare wherever you go, and young guys too," he said with a grin which made her blush again. "Might as well get paid for it."

He reached out and slid his fingers briefly through the hair which hung past her shoulders.

"Hot blonde chick like you make big tips," he said with a certainty.

"Yeah, maybe," she said, flattered, but also a bit uncomfortable.

"Baby, if there's one thing I know, it's guys. And guys, let me tell you, will do just about anything to look at hot chicks, especially in tiny little skirts," he said.

"You think I'm hot?" she asked with a smirk.

"I got eyes, baby," he said, letting his move up and down her body appreciatively. "Bet you look good out by that pool in a bikini."

Amy snorted, but felt a little flutter in her stomach. He really wasn't bad looking at all! And those arms looked... nice.

"You must work out," she said, though she blushed right after blurting it out.

He grinned and made a muscle, drawing his fist up and squeezing it. Then he reached out and took her hand, placing it on his bare bicep and stroking it back and forth.

"Man gotta be strong, baby, gotta be able to protect what's his," he said.

"You do, like sports?"

"I'm not tall enough to be on the basketball team if that's what you mean, and don't got enough steroids to be on the football team. But I do some weights and shit."

He lifted his tank-top and brought her hand down to his stomach, stroking it there.

Amy gasped, and instinctively tried to jerk her hand back, flushing even more at the smoothly muscled heat of his black skin. She succeeded in pulling her hand free on the second try and frowned at him, though her stomach was fluttering much more now.

"You work out?"

She shrugged and made a face.

"Yeah, I know, it's boring, right?"

"Kind of."

"Let me show you, something, baby."

He led her over to the computer and brought up a picture. It was a picture of a girl wearing sweat pants and a sweatshirt, standing on a ladder with paint brush in her hand, apparently doing touchups along the crown molding near the ceiling. Except whoever took the picture had persuaded her to lift her shirt up over her face, baring herself from her low slung pants to above her breasts.

And she wasn't wearing a bra!

"Look at those abs, baby," Darrell said, running his finger along her stomach and abdomen. "Just the perfect amount of muscle!

"Right, you put her on your desktop wallpaper because of her abs," she said sarcastically.

"Oh yeah, well, perfect boobs too," he said with an easy grin. "But yours look about the same size. You work out and you build up your chest muscles as well as your abs. You could have this body, babe."

Amy blushed again and walked away from the half-naked girl on the computer, looking at the little kitchen, and then at the bed in the far corner, with the dresser against the wall.

"Well, you better find something quieter to work out to or my dad will be booting you out of here," she said, headed for the door.

"Yeah, I know. Old white guys ain't into hip-hop," he said. "What about you, baby?"

She shrugged, turning at the door. "Some of it."

"You dance, baby?" he asked, grinning, sliding his hands up and down her arms at her sides.

"Sometimes."

She felt that little flutter rising again.

Then his hands slid off her arms and around behind her, sliding down her back to pull her in against him! She gasped, grasping his arms as his hands gripped her buttocks and squeezed.

"You and me, I bet we can dance the night away," he said.

She twisted free, sniffing. "In your dreams, maybe," she said.

"You better believe that, baby," he said with a broad grin.

Amy went back upstairs and closed the door, then locked it.

That certainly hadn't turned out the way she'd expected! Darrell was... not the nerdy boy she'd thought he was at all. Where were his glasses and his soft little voice? He wasn't exactly shy either! He had sure made his interests clear!

Maybe it would be interesting with him in the house, after all! Though it could be a little dangerous, too. What would it be like having sex with a Black guy, she wondered. Her father was very liberal, but he'd still made sure his kids went to a private school, not the public school. Supposedly that was for a better quality of education, but it was sure true there were way less minorities there.

She went back to the TV, considering that, toying with the idea of sleeping with this Darrell guy - if he turned out to be okay. On the plus side, none of her friends would know a thing. Whatever he bragged about it wouldn't be to anyone she knew. On the minus side, she knew very little about him. Of course, he was going to college, so it wasn't like he was some kind of dangerous gang member type.

Her mind passed onto his advice to go work at someplace like a pub where the girls had short skirts. It probably would pay a lot better in tips. It was just that she'd never really done that sort of thing, shown off her body for people. Oh, she dressed nice on dates, of course, and it wasn't like she was a virgin.

Not exactly anyway. She'd lost her virginity to her boyfriend Robert just last year. It had been in another basement, in fact, at his parents place. It wasn't exactly like a romance, and it wasn't exactly a wonderful experience. It was more of an obligation after the prom.

It had been okay, at best. And the next couple of times they'd done it, it had been a little better. But it only lasted like three or four minutes so she didn't really have a lot of opportunity to get really worked up about it. Her friend Andrea said her boyfriend was way better and had this thing he did with her tongue -.

But Robert thought oral sex was gross, at least, performing it on girls was gross. Girls performing it on him was another thing. He was a selfish prick, which was one of the reasons she'd dumped him.

She wondered if Darrell did oral sex... Probably. Those black people were sex maniacs. He'd probably had a ton of sex already, even though he only looked a couple of years older than her. He could probably teach her a lot of stuff Robert had never even dreamed of in that department.

That thought filled her with considerable interest, though there was anxiety too. He would probably think she knew nothing, like she was some ignorant virgin or something.