Jolie took a laptop home so she could leave the store closed for a few days. It was the first time she" d had a computer in the house. Her dad might have worked long hours, but he didn" t believe in taking work home. She needed to work and home was the only place where she felt sure Mack wouldn" t intrude with his apologies and excuses.
She had to hand it to Mack, he" d helped her break out of the mental loop that had been a nonstop replay of memories of her father. Now the loop was more like, I’d like to snatch Mack bald. And, How could he use me like that? Late at night when sleep wouldn" t come, she needed the Quarterz the way she" d need Novocain when having her teeth drilled. The hurt went on and on, with nothing to numb it.
The only way to escape the tortuous circling of her mind was through work. Her emails about the contracts her father had due had yielded understanding responses and an apparent willingness to see what she could do. If it was equal in quality to what her father was turning in, they" d let her fulfill his contracts. She had six weeks to knock out ten weeks worth of work.
She lived in a t-shirt and ate cold canned spaghetti, or canned ravioli, when hunger drove her from the computer. She didn" t shower or brush her teeth or notice the rise and set of the sun. She worked until raster-burned eyes drove her to nap, and worked more when she woke up. She texted Sienna once a day that she was still alive. She was pretty sure she didn" t miss any days.
Eventually Sienna showed up on Jolie" s doorstep with pizza, beer and ice cream.
She bullied Jolie into taking time out to bathe, wash hair, brush teeth-all those annoying little rituals that make a person socially acceptable and better smelling. Sienna filled Jolie in on useful details-it was Friday. Two weeks had passed since the incident.
Jolie already knew Garnet had had a seizure and with medication and an easing of his workload would be okay. Sienna didn" t know what Mack had done, but said he was a bastard for doing it.
That was Jolie" s opening to tell Sienna. She knew there" d be no peace until Sienna knew all, so she told all. When she knew the details, Sienna repeated her original position on the matter. When Sienna finally left, Jolie had a full stomach, an empty heart and a good buzz going. She was feeling just lazy enough to watch the movie Sienna left behind.
Halfway through, the sound of a car in her driveway had her looking up at the clock. Who would come after eleven?
She guessed the answer before a peek between the curtains to see a police cruiser in the driveway confirmed it. She was tempted not to answer the door, but she wasn" t sure ignoring a cop at the door was legal. He was wearing his uniform.
She smoothed her hair, wished she was wearing something besides a ratty t-shirt, but it came to her knees and covered her enough to pass.
She crossed her arms over her breasts as soon as she opened the door.
Mack held out what appeared be a flashlight, only it was off and the light end in his hand.
Jolie eyed it with caution. “What" s up?”
“Present for you?”
So he" d gone from silk roses to flashlights? She wasn" t sure that was an improvement. She didn" t take it.
“What do I need a flashlight for?”
“Actually, it" s a stun gun.” He had that look in his eyes, that I’m trouble look. “I just got done talking with Sienna.”
Jolie took the light.
“That switch right there, under your thumb turns on the light,” he said. He was still standing on her porch. She wasn" t inviting him in. “That part works like an ordinary flashlight. Go ahead, try it.”
“What are you doing here, Mack?”
“Arming you. Try the flashlight, Jolie.” He said the last in a tone that made her mouth go dry and her pussy go wet. And just like his alter ego, he had a bad-boy smile that made her shiver. Something had changed. He wasn" t looking guilty, but mad.
She flipped the switch and the light flicked on.
“Good girl.” She had to shift her weight, press her legs together against the throbbing response to those words. She didn" t want to respond. She wanted her mad back, but her body wasn" t listening.
“There" s a cap on the end.” He reached to show her and she backed away.
His grin made her insides quiver. “That" s right, you be careful. Wouldn" t want you falling for such a classic trick. Turn the flashlight around, Jolie.” Heat surged through her. She did what he said, but kept an eye on him.
“Unscrew the cap.”
She did, while he explained how to turn off the safety and pull the trigger. When she did a small lightning bolt snapped and sizzled between the electrodes on the end.
She thought about the time she" d nailed him, or Waster rather, with the blow gun.
“That sounds like it would really hurt.”
“It would.”
Jolie let go of the trigger.
“I" m not using this, Mack. What" s this really about?”
“This is about,” he said, taking a step toward her, “how you and I are going to have a little talk.”
She took another step back. “I don" t want to talk to you.”
“I know. But I" m coming in and we" re going to talk.” He stepped through the door and she backed up to the foyer wall. He kicked the door shut.
“You want this to stop, Jolie, you got a real life safe-out switch right there in your hand.”
“Are you crazy?”
“Probably.”
Jolie sidled along the wall and backed into the living room. Mack followed. She wasn" t going to stun him. He knew that.
“So you just want to talk?”
“No, but we can start with that.”
“Mack, this is insane. All of it is insane. “
“Not as insane as that story you told Sienna.” He grabbed her shoulders. “You think I was using you in a cyber sting?”
“I know you did.”
“Then zap away, baby, because that" s what I deserve.”
“Then what were you doing?”
He let go of her shoulders. Hooked a finger inside the collar of her t-shirt. “Nice threads.”
“Mack, don" t.”
“Has this got any sentimental value?”
“Don" t.”
He nodded to the weapon in her hand. “Safe-out.” She threw down the light.
He ripped her shirt open. For a moment they were locked in a familiar stare-down, both panting, neither blinking. Then he reached for her hair and he kissed her, kept on kissing her until she stopped thinking about why he was there, stopped trying to figure out what he really wanted from her and kissed him back, her arms going around his neck. His hands cupped her bottom, he crushed her against his erection and her legs wrapped round his hips.
When the kiss stopped, he let his forehead rest against hers, their noses bumping.
“That" s better. Always trust your instincts, Jolie girl. They lead you truer than your intellect.”
Her instincts were all turned inside out, tuned into Mack, drinking him in while he lectured.
“Now I" ll admit I" m a pervert, that I like hanging out in cyber playing catch and release with willing women. I even admit that I lured you there, hoping you might share my taste for the fantasy. I was afraid to tell you I was a cop. But that" s all I" m guilty of. The rest of that hypothesis you cooked up is pure fantasy. I" m a small-town street cop trying to convince a pretty girl to hook up with me, turn our mutual fantasies into something real. That" s all I am.”
“Okay. But that doesn" t matter. It" s crazy what we were doing, Mack. I should be in therapy for going to the site in the first place.”
“There" s nothing wrong with fantasies, Jolie girl. They help keep us going through the shit life throws at us.”
“Some fantasies should stay fantasies.”
“Care to put that theory to the test?” He bumped his hips against her.
She shook her head no, but his fingers slid right between her legs and he seemed more inclined to believe the part of her that was saying yes.
“We" re going to play a game.”
She shook her head, but her pussy squeezed tight around the finger he slipped inside.
“It" s called good cop, bad girl. And she was a very bad girl.” She had to ask. “What did she do?”
“She" s been accused of stealing a boat and resisting arrest by knocking out an officer.”
He let her go, stepped back, reached for something on the back of his belt. “I" m afraid I" ll have to interrogate you.”
God he looked sexy in that dark-blue uniform. It made his eyes look steelier.
Steelier? Her brain was turning to mush. She bolted. She was no better at escaping him in real life than she had been in cyber. He caught her at the bottom of the stairs, handcuffed her hands behind her to the banister.
“We don" t do anything you don" t want, Jolie. Anything you want to say?” She was shivering hard now. It was decision time. Step back into sanity or forward into madness. She looked up into those steel-blue eyes, saw her craving mirrored. She saw beyond that, to the dark-haired rebel inside, the one who made his own rules and didn" t worry about what others thought of them.
“I" m not saying anything without a lawyer.” She gave him a bratty grin.
He grinned back. “I have ways to make you talk, girl.” His erection tented the front of his uniform pants. Her mouth watered. He unhooked the nightstick from his belt. She didn" t know cops carried nightsticks anymore. And then a memory clicked. “Isn" t your uniform brown?”
“Yeah. This is a costume. We" re not supposed to go around molesting females when we" re in uniform.”
She shuddered when he caressed her leg with the blackjack. “Nice prop.” He tapped her thigh. “Spread your legs-I have to check you for weapons.” He slid it right along the cleft in her pussy.
“Is my pussy a weapon?”
He grinned. Desire flashed in his eyes. “Girl, what it" s done to me, absolutely it" s a weapon.”
82
Snatch Me
The stick spread her lips, nuzzled deeper into her slick folds, rode her clit. He pulled it back too soon, traced a damp trail up over her tummy to her breasts. Her nipples, hard as bullets already, tightened further.
“Look, you got my nightstick all wet,” he said. “I" ll have to write you up for destroying public property.”
“Then why don" t you inspect me with a tool that can handle the job?” She waited a beat and added politely, “Officer.”
His lips twitched. He almost dropped his role. He did drop the stick. And his pants.
And everything else he was wearing. She watched his beautiful cock bobbing with his movements and realized she" d been wrong about one thing-naked didn" t make him look the least bit vulnerable.
He grabbed her ass, hauled her against him. She hooked her thighs just over his hipbones. His lips grazed her neck. His teeth nipped her ear. His cock pressed her belly, desire oozed from the tip, warm against her skin.
“You know that guy you see in movies,” he said, his voice going husky, “the cop who makes the girl think he" s the one she should run to, the one she can trust enough to let in her house when she" s only wearing a t-shirt?”
“Yeah, I know that guy.”
He tore open the condom packet with his teeth before he continued.
“He" s a bad guy. He" ll wait until she" s home all alone, cuff her to the banister in the living room and fuck her brains out first chance he gets.” She watched when he leaned back to slide the rubber over his glistening cock.
“I" ll have to watch out for him.”
“Too late, baby. I" m that guy.”
He lifted Jolie up and yanked her down on top of his cock. He chose that moment when she couldn" t speak through the sensations rippling through her to say, “Last chance, Jolie girl. Anything you need to say?”
“Yes,” she said, squeezing him tight inside her, her voice a hoarse whisper. “Don" t stop.”
That" s how I wound up trading in my computer joystick for Mack" s.
We both decided we didn" t need the virtual after we" d tasted the real. His sacrifice was bigger than mine in that regard. Turns out he was an artist, the one who created that incredible fantasy world we played in. And yeah, I was annoyed for a while that he" d held back on telling me about his job, afraid I wouldn" t want to hook up with a guy who could go off to work one night and not come back. I am afraid, every night when he leaves me. I" m just not willing to let fear make a difference.
Catch and Release, Lucky Librarian-you all can play on without Mack and me.
We" ve leveled up to our own special real-life version of Snatch Me.
So far, it" s a tie score.