40 comments/ 83025 views/ 14 favorites Game of Chance By: dr_mabeuse The doors on the beach side of the café looked out on a scene so bright that all you could see were the broad slashes of white sand and turquoise water . It was no wonder Bogdan kept his sunglasses on. He thought he was being slick, that I couldn't read his pupils that way, but he was facing the beach and the light was pouring in on him. I could see his the reflection of his hole cards in the curved iridescent lenses of his Serengeti Arezzo's every time he peeked at them: Jack of hearts and four of clubs. It didn't really matter, because I was going to let him win this one anyhow. Still, it was gratifying to see that he was bluffing with that shit hand. After ten hours of cards, the man was desperate. "Twenty to me, huh?" I put my hands together and blew through them as if I were cold, pretending to think about it. It was a signal I'd been sending out all night—a hook, a phony tell—something I wanted him to recognize as a nervous habit I had that meant I was bluffing. I was pretty sure he'd already bought it. He wasn't really dumb. Just dumb enough to think he was smart.. "Too rich for me," I said, and threw my cards down. "But what'd you have?" I reached for his cards like an eager tinhorn and he grabbed my wrist. His smile had worn razor thin over the course of the night; his eyes were exhausted but still hard enough to flash cruel for an instant over his tints before they warmed to the old charmer look. "Ah-ah-ah!" he warned. "No looking." "Oh right, sorry. I forgot." It was pretty corny, pretending I was such a beginner that I thought I could just look at his hand, and it was kind of late to try and convince him that I was dumb. I was up about two thousand Euros now, mostly his money, and I was trying my damnedest to either break him completely or just muscle him out once and for all. Either way, I wanted out of this two-man game because I was up and because I was sick of him. He had nothing left to bet anymore, but he didn't know when to quit; just kept on nickel and diming, hanging on by his fingernails. I don't like that kind of play, and I didn't like Bogdan Kerosivic. He and his pals Ivor and Dimmy had attached themselves to us last night in the hotel casino. A chance meeting and one I certainly didn't intend, but once Bogdan found out I was from Chicago, we were stuck. He'd gone to school there, and instantly we were old pals. Bogdan started pushing coke spoons under our noses and talking up his gangster connections, connections with this guy Grecco and his ties to the Ozalan Turkish mafia. Josh and I had just dropped 50 kilos of hash off in Bari, Montenegro and I knew something about Ozalan and these guys didn't seem like much to me. Despite Bogdan's come on, they'd made us for a couple of American marks and were out to take us. If we'd been able to get alone with Bogdan for five minutes we could have put an end to that nonsense and taken care of everything, but his pals and their pals were always around in a big crowd, and then Josh started playing cards with these guys and I got sucked in, and right away broke a tooth on Bogdan. He got under my skin and wouldn't get out and so here were at eight in the morning still playing, dragging this thing out, stumbling along to the bitter end. Ivor had gone home hours ago and Dmitri was asleep at the table, sweat glistening on hs forehead. Josh had written the whole night off back before midnight and was asleep at the hotel, and I was stuck with trying to get Bogdan off my hands. He was too stubborn to let me quit and too dumb to quit himself, so I kept alternating between wanting to let him win a couple hands to get him off my back and wanting to clean the lint from the fucker's pockets. "That's enough for me," I tried again, as though losing 80 Euros on this hand had wiped me out and evened things up between us. "I'm packing it in." "No! Wait! You can't, Jeffrey. I'm just hitting my stride." "Stride? Fuck, Bogdan. We've been playing for ten hours. That's fucking enough." I put my cigarettes in my pocket and started scraping up my cash. Bogdan was a big coarse guy with a gap between his front teeth. After ten hours of losing at cards and snorting coke, he looked rumpled and damp and flushed. "Come on. Another hand. My wife's going to meet me here any minute. We'll play till she gets here. Ten, fifteen minutes at the most." "She know how much you lost?" "Easy come, easy go," he said. "I can handle her. She likes to come down here for the food. You should try it. Their brioche is really excellent. How about some breakfast? American style?" "No. But I could go for a burger with a slice of raw onion about now." It was a nice place really. A café down on the ancient boardwalk that ran along the beach, where men played cards and backgammon and dominoes, some for money, some for fun. One side faced the boardwalk, the other faced the street, and the other two sides looked out at the harbour with the yachts and sailboats bobbing in the blue Adriatic. Bogdan had brought us down here to finish our game, but also to show us his pride and joy, an 18 foot ketch that looked pretty sad and bedragled down here among the yachts. He didn't look like a sailor. I was sitting opposite him, facing the main tourist drag that ran outside. All the doors were open to the breeze, the ceiling fans spun and the waiters brought us water and beer and coffee without a word as we played. The place smelled of tanning butter and furniture wax and cigars, all layered above the coppery-clean scent of the sea. It would have been a nice place if I hadn't been so tired. But I was tired. Tired of Bogdan's company and tired of looking at cards and I just wanted to get rid of him. I tried to lose. If I didn't beat a jack in the deal I just folded and let Boggy have the ante, but even like this he had shit luck. I didn't want his money anymore. He didn't have anything I wanted. I sat back and looked out at the street. There was a blonde girl in a short, royal-blue dress walking quickly towards the café in the morning light, a big bag on her shoulder, her long legs scissoring up the distance. She hopped the curb on those legs, dodged the cars that honked and whistled. She was a joy to watch, a woman who knew how to be a woman, very slim, very erect, very European in a way that lifted my heart, then dropped it just as fast as I realized it could only be Bogdan's wife. Poetic justice demanded it. This greasy little hustler would be married to the beauty of the world. She came into the café and stood getting her bearings, then walked over. As soon as our eyes met something clicked, clunked, and locked into place, like the door on a big, iron safe. I felt the wheels of destiny turning, the big wheel with the little wheels inside, and my stomach ejected into my chest. Worse, I knew that the same thing was happening to her. I saw the little hitch in her step when she laid eyes on me, almost like she knew me. It was like we shared the same network, like we were already connected. She walked over to the table, her step a bit more hesitant now, both hands on the strap of her bag. She gave me a cautious smile, then bent and kissed Bogdan on his swarthy cheek. Bogdan winced—he was shuffling for one last hand—and made introductions with his eyes. "Alena, this is Jeffrey, my new American friend. Jeffrey, my wife Alena." I stood and extended my hand. I haven't stood up for an introduction since they made me do it in Sunday school, but this time I did it automatically, without thinking. She was a beautiful girl, but more than that, she was my kind of beautiful, with big brown eyes with a hint of sadness in them, and a kind of pouty Slavic mouth that I just wanted to suck on; a lavish mane of blonde hair, fine features and the bearing to go with it: regal. There was an animal leanness and grace about her, and intelligence in her eyes. I could tell exactly what she was thinking when she shook my hand. She was suddenly wary, on her guard against me, as if she knew intuitively that I was dangerous. Just like that the roof fell in on me. Knowing what I knew about Bogdan, my heart went out to her, but there was nothing I could do, nothing I could say. She sat and tried to smile, said hello to Dimmy, who grunted and went back to sleep, and glanced at the pile of money still on the table in front of me, then at Bogdan's pile, then she looked at me. Again I could read her thoughts as clearly as if she'd written them on her face. Her look said she apologized for her husband; she was ashamed of him, but.that he was her husband after all. Her look asked me not to interfere. Her look begged me not to interfere. "Come on," Bogdan said, already dealing the cards. "A half hour more. Maybe some of the morning crowd will sit in." Always one more. I played, just to keep them there. I lost as best I could, too, wanting to build him back up in her eyes and not look like a selfish asshole, but by now Bogdan was exhausted and drunk and playing on sheer stubbornness. He threw away hand after hand, betting wildly, even misreading his cards. Alena ordered a mineral water and gave me a pained look when I tried to pay for it. The tension grew: tension that Bogdan was going to get drunk and do something ugly; unspoken tension between Alena and me. It built in the air like a thunderhead. She finally put on her sunglasses and that gave me some relief because I couldn't see what she was looking at. But I knew. I could feel it. I could feel it too when she crossed her legs, one knee over the other. She had long, sinuous legs, smooth and tan. They looked like honey dripping from a spoon. I won a hand, a big one, and Alena got up and walked over to the bar rather than see me scoop up all those bills. As tired and exhausted as Bogdan was, he was still a hustler and not too far gone to miss a last chance, and not above grabbing for it. He caught me glancing at her and said, "She's nice, huh?" I looked at him and he grinned. "I'm not so dumb. I know what I see. You like her, huh? She likes you too. Give me 500 euros and we'll play for the rest, your money against my wife." Josh was back at the room asleep. Dimmy was passed out again in his chair. Bogdan sat there grinning at me. It was a hateful sight. "I don't think so," I said. "Cut the cards." "I'm serious. We'll play for her." "Maybe you should ask her what she thinks," I said. Bogdan put his glasses up on his head so I could see his red and watery eyes. "She'll do what I say. I've been watching you two. Give me 500 e's credit and we'll play for her. You clean me out, you get her for a night. I win, then we're friends again." "Bullshit." His smile broadened. "This isn't Wisconsin, my friend. She'll do what I tell her to. Now what do you say? She's as good as she looks." "You're slime," I said. He shrugged and lowered his glasses. "You are too, my friend." I'd been up all night and Josh and I had planned to finish up our business here and leave for Athens that afternoon. I couldn't afford to get involved with anyone, least of all her. But I was sick of the sight of cards and the feel of the chair in my back, sick of Bogdan's rat-faced smile and the feel of his money between my fingers, and she looked so good standing there at the bar, so cool and clean and refreshing. I didn't believe it, of course. It was a ridiculous idea, but a fascinating one. I pushed 500 euros at him and said, "Deal." I started drinking wine as we played. It was still early morning, but the wine tasted very good, and I wanted to get drunk. I wanted to lose and I wanted to win and I didn't know what I wanted: maybe just get drunk, I guess. Instead of making the game interesting, the bet kind of nauseated me, but not Bogdan. Like the classic problem gambler, now that his life and marriage were on the line he grew excited and even joyful, calling for brandy and cigars. He'd found the crack in my armor. He'd finally found something he had that I wanted. Alena came back and stood behind his chair and she knew something was up. Bogdan smiled and rubbed his hands together and made no secret of it anyhow. He reached up and took one of her hands and rubbed his face against it. "Jeffrey and I are playing for you now, darling," he said. "What do you think of that?" She gave his hand a little jerk. "Don't even joke!" "Oh, it's no joke. I lose, and you spend the night with him. I win, I get all our money back." He laughed and shuffled the cards. I couldn't tell whether she believed him or not, or whether she thought it was a tasteless joke and that was bad enough, but she sat down again and looked out at the harbor, her sunglasses on her head. She tried to make herself disappear, which was impossible. That dress looked so good on her. It was surreal. We played 7-card stud. He won the first two hands and then I called for a new deck because the cards were greasy and God knows how he might have marked them. Alena sat back ignoring us both, but then the seriousness of our play must have sunk in, or something convinced her this was for real because she began to glare. She was a proud and beautiful girl, and it bothered me to see her treated like this, but not so much that I didn't want to win. I took a couple hands but she didn't look at me, only at him, at his face, his cards, and his money. It wasn't until he lost a big pot—staying in again chasing a straight when he should have folded—that she ventured a look at me. It was a look of hatred, but somehow I knew it wasn't directed at me. She wanted me to win. She wanted me to do whatever it took to hurt him. After a hand where I took 120 E's from him, she turned to Bogdan. "He's going to win, Bogdan. He's better than you." He was shuffling the cards. "Is that right? Then you'd better run home and get a nightie." I reached over and covered his hands with mine. "We both shuffle," I said, He was doing dummy shuffles and bending cards, reduced to crap like that. It went on. Dimmy woke up and watched, making small talk with Bogdan. Supposedly, he didn't know what we were playing for, but I doubted it. I made him leave the table and sit where I could watch him. Alena sat there with her legs and arms tied in a knot, humiliated and angry. The lunch time crowd started to arrive and the smell of garlic and frying fish started drifting from the kitchen. We played on in our own little cocoon On a hand Bogdan dealt I pulled a straight on the seventh card. It had been tight and there was a big pot and I had nothing showing but a small pair. I figured Bogdan for two pair or three of a kind because he kept on raising my bets. It was perfect. I pushed him at the end, betting his limit as if I were trying to money him out. I left it to him to call or fold. If he called and lost, it was all over. He looked at me and looked at his cards as his cigar burned in his fingers. I sat back with a look of indifference on my face that wouldn't have fooled anyone, then I leaned forward. I put my hands together and blew through them like I was cold. It was time to see if the hook had set. Bogdan pretended to think it over. He pursed his lips and sroked his chin, looked at his hole cards again and said, "Call," . I laid down for him. "Straight. Six high." He sat still for a moment, looking at the cards as if he'd suddenly forgotten how to count. He smiled, stood up and took out his handkerchief and blew his nose. He'd been doing a lot of coke and his nose started to bleed a little. He dabbed at it, knocked back the last of his brandy and tried to smile again. Dimmy came over, but I figured they wouldn't try anything with all these people around. It had been an clean win. "Well," he said. "You're a very lucky man." "Sometimes." I stood up too, making a lot of noise so that people would turn to look. I wanted to be noticed. He dabbed at his nose. "When do you want her?" Alena reached for that big bag she'd brought and I thought she was going to hit him with it. "You son of a—" "I'll take her now." "Now?" He laughed once. "You've been up all night, my friend. You should get some rest." "Now." He shrugged and gestured to her with his head, but Alena was already on her feet. She turned the bag upside down on the table and all this crap fell out: makeup and letters and pill bottles, soap and underwear and a toothbrush and socks. They all fell out on top of the cards and money and dirty ashtrays. She'd brought him clean socks and toiletries so he could freshen up, and he'd just lost her in a card game. She turned to me. "Let's go. This is making me sick." $ $ $ We walked away from the café fast. She was angry, so I just kept my mouth shut. I was hoping she'd stay angry, so angry that she'd fuck me out of spite. But as soon as the card game was left behind, I realized how absurd the whole thing was. She was a princess, and I really didn't think she was about to come to my hotel and fuck me just because her oaf of a husband had made a drunken bet. I could tell she felt she owed me an apology, though, and so she offered to help me find my way back to my hotel. That was good enough for me. I was lost and besides, it was the only hold I had on her. "Where are you staying? " she asked. "Do you have a car?" "No. Dmitiri drove. I'm staying at the Metropole." "Does he know that's where you are?" "I don't know. What difference does it make?" "He can be dangerous when he drinks." I didn't think Bogdan was much of a threat, besides, she was worth it. "I'm not worried." She stared at me for a moment, trying to read me. She failed and shrugged it off. "All right. I'll walk you to the Metrople. It's not far. I want to get away from here anyway." Her dress left her back bare. It was an exceptionally lovely back. I loved the way she walked, too—fast, determined, and now, after her insult, with her head high and back straight. Those long legs ate up the sidewalk and I had to hustle to keep up with her. She was an imposing beauty, and a couple times I saw men on the street look away when she dealt them a pre-emptive strike with her eyes. I couldn't imagine how she had ended up with Bogdan The Metropole was an old, renovated pensione and very charming, set back in a courtyard filled with oleander and orange trees. It had an ancient concierge and the kind of wrought iron elevator that you don't see anymore, and had been recommended to us as the kind of place that was quiet and off the tourist track, the kind of place that the local heavy hitters favored: quiet, luxurious, circumspect. "I'll leave you here," she said as we stepped into the lobby. She lowered her head. "I apologize for what happened, but my husband... Well, I'm sorry we had to meet like this." "Wait a minute," I said. "You forget. I won you. You're mine for the night." She smiled weakly, as if acknowledging a bad joke. "Please, don't be silly." "Silly nothing. That was a legitimate bet. If I'd lost, he would have taken my money. Why should I put my ass on the line for nothing?" She got indignant. She still had plenty of anger left over for me. "Keep your voice down. I don't belong to you or anyone. Just who do you think you are anyhow?". It was the way she looked at me that did it, that dismissive, condescending face. So many times I'd run into that same look, that same tone of voice from women just like her. "You really don't know, do you?" I asked. She showed me an elaborately bored face and that did it. I felt that sudden surge of adrenalin I always get before a high-stakes bluff and I decided to go for it. "You know a man named Grecco?" It worked. She looked at me and I could see the fear in her face now. It felt good. "Well he works for us. When my people say 'jump' he asks 'how high'. We chew up bugs like your Bogdan for breakfast, Alena, and it just so happens your boy's in a shitload of trouble already, you understand? Now, you want to come upstairs and talk about it? Or do you want me to go in and make a phone call?" Game of Chance That shut her up, and in her moment of confusion I took her calmly by the arm and led her past the desk. The elevator came down like the shadow of doom and I pulled the door open and pushed her in. My heart was hammering in my chest. "Bogdan fucked with the wrong people this time." I said. "I don't bother with small-timers like this but he was asking for it, and now he's into me for twenty-five hundred E's, his shitty little boat and his wife." The boat was a lie, but I figured it couldn't hurt. She was nervous now, and she looked very small against the black iron of the elevator. "What are you going to do to him?" "Well now, that's entirely up to you, isn't it?." We stopped with a heavy clang on the third floor and I opened the wrought iron door and held it for her. It was a nice-sized little apartment, totally redone. There were French doors that looked out over the harbor, and another set that gave out onto the courtyard with the orange trees, but there was also a TV and a courtesy bar. I left her standing by the door and went to the phone and dialed the hotel I was calling from, the only phone number I knew. I blocked the phone with my body and put my finger down on the cradle before anyone picked up. "Yeah, it's me," I said into the dead phone. "Yeah, I'm fine, but I want you to have that prick followed. You know where he lives. Over on Aragosta Street."—I remembered the name Bogdan had mentioned—"No. Only if and when I say so. Yeah. No, Right. I'll let you know." I hung up the phone. Alena hadn't moved. She looked like she was cold. "You're serious," she said. I didn't lie. I just didn't say anything. "You're an animal," she said. "You're as bad as he is." "Good. Then you should be used to it." I saw her nostrils flare like a bull's before it charges, but she got herself under control. I filed it away. It's always good to have a hook. I went to the bar and opened a bottle of the local brandy. I needed a drink. Bluffing at cards was one thing. The stakes were much higher here. I really wanted this girl. I didn't know how else to get her, but this tough guy act was getting hard to maintain.. She followed me into the living room with sudden nonchalance. "So what do you intend to do? Rape me? Because that's the only way it's going to happen." "I'd thought about it." I splashed brandy into a glass. No ice. There was never any ice. "I was hoping we could come to a more amenable solution." I took a big drink and then poured some into another glass and handed it to her. She took it. "Forgive me. My English isn't all that good. What does 'amenable' mean?" "Friendly." She watched me like a cat, nothing moving but her eyes. That feeling of erotic tension was back, that feeling of having known each other before, and she was taking my measure, trying to get a handle on me. She was interested—maybe not willing, but interested. Otherwise she would have left, threat or no threat.. "This is how it's going to work," I said. "I won a night with you, and that's what I expect, whether I fuck you or not. I can't let you go, because that'll make me look like an idiot who lets people stiff him, and then everyone'll start stiffing me. And it'll also mean that Bogdan doesn't pay his debts, and that'll ruin his reputation. I know how much his reputation means to you." I let that one sink in as I took another drink. It was truly vile stuff, made of peach pits or something. "On top of that, Grecco won't like it when he finds who Bogdan's been screwing with. No telling what he'll do, even if I don't do anything. So you see, you're stuck here for twenty-four hours whether you like it or not." Alena was expressionless. "I'm not a bad guy" I said, changing tone. "I know I cleaned him out—cleaned you out too, didn't I? Down to the fucking rent money. So tomorrow morning, twenty-four hours from now, I'll give you your money—half of what I took from Bogdan, less my fee for trouble and aggravation—and you're free to go. Agreed?" "And the boat?" "You can have the boat too. I don't want any boat. So what do you say?" No answer. She was going to give me the icy beauty business, stalling for time, and suddenly I got mad. "Don't fuck with me, Alena. If you don't like it, turn and walk out that door and stop wasting my time. See what happens." She didn't move. She took a quick drink from her glass. I sighed, took off my wrinkled jacket and threw it in a chair. I sat down and put my feet up on the table. "Tell me," I said. "How did you end up with a man like him anyhow?" I yanked that hook and her anger flared, just like magic. "That's really none of your business." "Are you happy with him?" She put her drink down. "What are you? Some sort of marriage counselor? Is that what this is about?" I was betting that she'd rather fuck than talk about her husband, so I let her stew for a moment as I took a drink. "Take off your dress." The silence was thick and immediate. I could hear her swallow. She didn't move except to stiffen her back. My stomach was fluttering as I stood up and walked over to her. I was beat, exhausted, angry and shaking with fear, but she'd been working on me since I first laid eyes on her, and now I got up and walked over to her and stood as close to her as I wanted. Alena lowered her eyes. I stood behind her. The halter of her dress tied around the back of her neck and I could see the bow through that rich fall of golden hair. Her back was exposed to well below her shoulder blades. I reached up and my fingers were shaking like I had the DT's. I pushed her hair out of the way and got a whiff of fresh warm female, then fumbled with the knot until I got it untied and threw the two ends down over her chest. Her hands came up and she grabbed the dress just as it fell, trapping it against her chest. It slipped down to the top of her ass, and I was looking at the most gorgeous human back I've ever seen. "I didn't take that bet lightly," I said. "It was almost twelve hundred euros. And you know what? It was a bargain." She turned her head as if to look at me, but I didn't want to be seen. I took hold of her shoulders and pressed my lips to the back of her neck and just stood there. I meant to do it only for an instant, just to see what it felt like, but it was like grabbing hold of the third rail of a subway. I couldn't let go She gave a little inward gasp and arched away from me, but I held her shoulders—her bare, naked shoulders—and I kept her there. My eyes were closed, and for a moment my brain just shut off. I kept my mouth pressed lightly to the back of her neck and stood there, tasting her. I ran my lips from the back of her neck along the soft ridge of her trapezius to the dome of her shoulder, where I stopped. I kept my eyes closed, afraid if I opened them she'd be gone. I opened my eyes and she was still there. I closed my eyes again and brought my lips back, this time opening them so I could feel her skin against my teeth, the way you run a pearl across your teeth to find out whether it's real or artificial. She was real. She was so real she had goose bumps. They talk about time standing still but it doesn't, not really. What it does is thicken and congeal till a second's like an hour and every sense is drum-tight. I could hear the sounds of the traffic through the French doors and hear a woman calling to some child, but here inside time was measured by the progress of my lips down her back and her deep, uneven breathing. My mouth followed the sweet indent of her spine down her back. I put my tongue out and licked her as I held her still, not caring what she thought. She was sweet and salty like fruit in the sun and there was something mysterious and intoxicating about that taste. I swerved off to one shoulder blade and tasted her there, then the other. I grew bolder and bit her, that soft skin between my teeth. She whimpered and I held her tighter. I held her so tight my hands hurt. I trailed lower, bending down as I did. I had to let go of her shoulders, and I put my hands on her hips as I got on my knees. "Don't," she said at last. "Please..." I wasn't listening. I'd followed her spine down to where it ended and her hips began, and I detoured now to those subtle dimples on either side of her lower back. I gave myself the luxury of pressing my lips against them, mouth open, so I could taste the animal pulse of her body. I kissed her softly, slowly, and deliberately, and then I just pressed my cheek to her back and held her like that. I don't know how long I held her, kneeling behind her like an altar boy. Too long, because I suddenly felt foolish and stood up. "Sorry," I said. "I just always wanted to know what it would be like to have a woman like you." Alena was looking at me over her shoulder. That hardness in her eyes was gone, replaced by a kind of sadness. "Is this really what you want?" she asked. "You don't know how much." She looked away and that seemed to be it. I was trying to think of something else I could do when I heard her say, "Close the curtains." I wasn't shaking anymore. Since I had tasted her it was like a deep peace had descended over me. I got up and pulled the curtains closed over the French doors, steeping the room in the illicit light of morning shade. I heard her dress rustle to the floor behind me, and when I looked she was standing with her hands on her shoulders, her arms shielding her breasts, clad only in her panties. "What do you want me to do?" she asked. I had no idea. I walked over to her and stood in front of her. "Just put your hands around my neck. Just stand there." She reached up, betraying her breasts with a confidence I didn't expect, and put her hands on my shoulders. I should have known she wouldn't kiss me, but I wasn't thinking clearly and so I tried. She kept her eyes closed as I kissed her passive lips. They were parted and expectant but they needed to be coaxed and convinced, as if she'd forgotten how they worked. I was in no hurry now. I slid my hands down her back and cupped them around her ass, vegetable-slick in her silk panties. I pulled her hips against me. Maybe it was the feel of my hard cock against her stomach. Maybe it was the feel of my shirt against her beautiful breasts, or my hands on her ass, or maybe her lips got tired of doing nothing, but she kissed me then, and she kissed me with the fervor of a woman who hasn't been kissed in a very long time, demanding and frightened and bold and shy all at the same time. Her hands tightened on my neck as she reached for my mouth. Her nipples bit into my chest and I seemed to grow till I loomed over her and bent her backwards. She wasn't just as good as I'd imagined, she was better. My cock reached for her through my pants like a blind man trying to escape a burning room. No, I thought. No. This one's too good to fuck. This one has to be loved. I felt her buttocks clench as she instinctively pushed her pussy at me, and at that all thought evaporated. Maybe it was just reflex on her part, but she ground those tight hips against me and I felt the muscles in her ass clench and it just drove me wild. We broke the kiss—we had to breathe—and then she put my hands on my chest and tried to push. No," she said. "No, I can't." I bent down and picked her up. Without even thinking about it I bent down and picked her up like a groom picks up his bride. She tried to twist away but I held her close and again I got that thrill of using my strength against her, against those frail womanly arms. I held her tight and carried her into the bedroom, staggering just a bit because my legs weren't working properly. Another man's wife. That's what she was and I couldn't forget it. The knowledge made me desperate. I dropped her on the bed and she said, "No," again but I could smell her now and my arms were still full of her warmth, my mouth full of her kiss. I wanted to eat her. I wanted to devour her and drink her down but that was impossible. I'd settle for something close though, for worshipping her with my mouth and licking her and sticking my tongue in her and making her come, making her give herself up to me. But when I went down there she grabbed my hair and pulled. "No! Don't! I can't stand that! It's too much!" I crawled back up the bed and took her in my arms and she put her arms around me and kissed me hard, as if making up for denying me the pleasure of her sex. She kissed me and then she closed her eyes and raised her face to be bathed in kisses, like you turn your face to the sun after a long time in darkness. I was all over her. Her breasts were small but exquisite in their shape and sensitivity, and when I sucked her nipples she cradled my head as if she were feeding me. She was just so gorgeous she made me ache. I stood up and started tearing off my clothes, and she lay there breathing hard, her eyes closed, waiting. I knew the clock was ticking, that I only had so much time before she changed her mind. The morning light was coming through the shutters in bars, striping her body like a prisoner, and I could tell she was already feeling remorse. I got naked and got onto the bed next to her and took her in my arms, but she turned her face away. "Jeffrey, I can't." Her voice was excited, breathless. "Let me use my mouth on you. I can do that. I can make it good." "No," I said. "No. It's you I want. Not your mouth. You, all of you." "Please," she tried to push me away again but now I'd had enough. She was another man's wife. Another man's luck and good fortune, his love at one time, and his life. Another man's, and it was always like that. Never mine. Never my women, my life. I grew frantic and grabbed her wrists. I pressed them down into the bed on either side of the pillow and loomed over her, looked into her eyes and saw them flare with sudden hunger and excitement. "This is rape," she said. "Holding me like this, it's rape. Is that what you want?" I was stupid with lust. It took me a minute to realize what she was telling me, and then I tightened my grip on her wrists. "I'll take it," I said. "I'll take it any way I can get it." She still struggled, but something had gone out of the fight. Her body had already relaxed into the bed, only her arms still resisted. She balled her hands into fists and tried to escape, tried to free her wrists, but I was so much stronger, it was easy to hold her down. She pushed against my hands, arching her back and testing my strength, wanting to know I was really holding her. Then she gave up, closed her eyes and turned her face to the side. Her chest was heaving. I could see the pulse beating fast in the side of her neck. I transferred both her wrists to one hand and still easily held her down. I trailed my other hand over her body, taking whatever I wanted: her breasts, her nipples, the tight stomach and the soft warm bulge in her panties. She wouldn't turn her face to me so I kissed her body, her throat, sucked her nipples into my mouth and pressed my fingers to her swollen flesh and made her groan. Being held down had done something to her. I could feel her moisture through her panties. Her panties. I slid my hand up through the leg hole, curled my fingers over the top and yanked, pulling her ass off the bed. She yelped in alarm. The panties held so I pushed my finger tips against the open fabric and punched up. The fabric was sheer and my fingers broke through, and then it was easy to just shred them. I tore at them like a terrier with a rat.. "Oh God!" she moaned. "Oh God, no!" With her panties in tatters I rolled between her legs. I held her wrists down hard and my cock searched for her as she raised her hips in an effort to push me off, but all the time her eyes were looking at my hands holding her wrists, first at one and then the other, like she couldn't believe it. I laid my weight on her, driving her ass down against the bed and my cock found her and sunk into that tight, swollen pussy. It was holding her that did it, the feel of my hands on her wrists, and once I had opened her she thrust her hips up at me to take me deep, and she started grinding against me in hot, hungry circles. She wasn't as weak as I'd thought, not as far as her hips and legs and belly went, and she planted her feet on the mattress and fucked up at me like a cock-starved whore. "Beautiful bitch!" I gasped down at her. "This is what you need, isn't it? To be held down and fucked hard." She whined in her throat but her hips never stopped. "No," she whispered. "No, you're raping me. There's nothing I can do! You're too strong...holding me down...making me do it!" It was some sick game but I didn't care. If she wanted to play rape, that was fine with me. I was riding her hard, no finesse, no tricks or fancy moves, just bone-jarring fucking while she writhed beneath me, sometimes digging her ass into the mattress as if trying to escape, other times pushing up at me as if she couldn't get enough. We fucked in silence, the room so quiet you could hear the slick sound of my prick working inside her, my growls of hunger and Alena's whimpers of protest and sudden moans of shameful pleasure as I hit a sensitive spot. The look of lust on her that regal face was more than I could stand, and we were like two animals, two people with nothing to lose who had only this conjunction of flesh in flesh to sustain them. That, and the burst of savage pleasure that was thundering down upon us like a herd of wild horses. "Damn you!" she cried, and now she was engaged in a different fight. She wanted it. There was no doubt in my mind anymore. She wanted it but she wasn't going to let me see that, and so she fought with herself, trying to refuse her own body's desires, but it was no use. A brief shudder on her part as my cock seemed to grow another inch in size and she gave up. She threw herself into it, not caring what either of us thought of her anymore. There was a lot of strength in that exquisite body, and it all seemed to be designed for sex. I marveled again at what an astonishing idiot Bogdan must be. "Fuck me, damn you!" she gasped. :Fuck me hard!" I held her wrists and made her take it, punched my cock into her until she yielded, the strength going out of her legs so that her knees fell open on the bed. I looked down into that angelic face twisted into a mask of pleasure and heard her squeal in shock as her orgasm took her, and then my own come rose up over me like a wall of brilliant black water and came crashing down. I fucked her so deep that my toes dug into the blanket as I pushed and at the last minute I let go of her wrists and grabbed her ass, pulling her pussy up against me and holding her hips like a bowl against the spitting fountain of my cock. My come jetted into her like water from a hose. "Oh fuck, Alena! I'm coming! Coming in you! Take it! Take it all!" Alena keened with excitement and seemed to flower open for me, spreading her legs wider, becoming softer somehow, reaching for me in some way I can't explain. I shot into her, shot all my fear and tension and hunger; shot again and again and again into her welcoming, accepting body. Her arms wrapped around my back. Her nails dug in and she clung to me, holding me close, pressing me against her trembling body, close, close... $ $ $ She lay there with my come seeping from between her legs, staring up at the ceiling, unmoving. I got out of bed, sweat drying on my skin, and lit a cigarette. I offered her one but she shook her head. There was not much we could say after that performance, but I knew what was going through her head: hatred of me probably, and hatred of herself, and shame and wonder at the way she'd responded. Because she [I]had[/I] responded; responded like an avalanche, like a dam bursting. She knew it, and she knew I knew it, but now there was nothing to say about it. We'd both let our guards down and now they were back up, and as mine went up I got an uneasy feeling that maybe this had been too easy, Game of Chance "Wait here," I said. I got out of bed and slipped my shorts back on, closed the bedroom door behind me and took the cordless phone out in the other room where she wouldn't hear me. I called Josh's suite and woke him up. I told him what had happened and who I was with. "Jeffrey, that was exceedingly stupid, to bring his wife here. You know what I'm thinking." "Some sort of badger game. Yeah, I wouldn't worry about it. I've got it covered." "You do? What are you going to do with her?" "I'm not sure yet." "You're not." It was a statement. "You don't want to get the wrong people angry with us, Jeffrey. And the money?" "That's covered too," I said. "I'm on top of it." Josh is a big Buddha of a man with a ponytail and a very soft, dangerous voice. He's very smart and just about the coldest person I know under pressure. That's why I liked working with him, even though I always ended up doing all the heavy lifting. "Well, all right," he said after a long pause. "But everyone knows everything in a town like this and last night was bad. It's only a matter of time before it all comes down. I suggest you finish your business and clear out as soon as possible. There's a three o'clock Alitalia to Athens." "I can't make it. I'm staying over night. I'll meet you tomorrow." "Is it her?" "Yeah." Why lie? I could hear him thinking. He told me once that his mind worked like a pool table and he saw everything in terms of angles and combinations. He must have been considering various shots now, weighing what he knew about Bogdan and his friends and their connections. "Well, it's your call. If you feel you've got things under control, there's no point in my staying. I'll go on to Athens. We'll meet where we planned. I'll see you there." "Right." "Be careful, Jeffrey. Don't fuck things up." "Right again." I put the phone down, went to the front door and made sure it was locked, then I slipped my Travel-lock over the deadbolt and locked that on too. I glanced at the bedroom door and then dropped the key into a potted palm, locking us in. The phone was cordless and I was just unscrewing the back when the bedroom door opened and Alena came out, her arms folded modestly over her breasts. She leaned wearily against the door frame, watching me. "You don't have to do that," she said. "I'm not going to call him." "How many times have you run this game before, Alena?" "Would you believe me if I said 'never'?" I got the battery out of the phone and slipped into my pocket. "Give me your cell." "It's in my bag." I got her phone from her purse and while I was in there I poked around. Nothing but a wallet and keys, some tissues and lipstick and her BC pills. Trusting soul to let me in her purse. She had 4 euros and change. I went to my big Samsonite suitcase and opened it, threw the battery and the cell phones in there and dug out my toy bag. I pawed through the vibes and collars and took out my Smith & Wesson handcuffs and a length of choke chain. I locked the suitcase and spun the tumblers "So the whole bet was rigged?" I asked. "It was a set-up from the start?" She smiled wanly. "Don't give him so much credit. He just wanted me to come on to you, that's all. I didn't know anything about the bet. He wanted me to screw you and then call him while you were sleeping. He's tried to get me to do something like this before: I find out where the guy's staying and then they'll come over and take care of him and get their money back and his too. He's probably waiting for me to call right now." "You didn't go along with it?" "I'm not a whore," she said. "I stay out of his filthy games. I wasn't going to come with you at all. I was just angry and wanted to get away from him, but then you frightened me with that Grecco talk. I believed it when you said Grecco worked for you. He doesn't, does he? You don't even know who he is." I didn't lie. I didn't say anything. She smiled a weary, knowing smile. "I knew it. You don't fuck like a thug. You don't fuck like anyone I've ever met." Even with her hair all messed and fresh from being fucked she was still beautiful. She had it in her bone-deep, but I could see now that it was the kind of beauty that would cause her nothing but trouble. That didn't make her any less beautiful though. Just the opposite She hugged herself, still hiding her breasts. "He's stealing from Grecco you know. And Grecco's stealing from Ozalan. They all steal from each other. It's all fucked up." "None of my business," I said. "Anyhow, it's time for bed. Give me your hand." She held out her hands and I clipped the cuff to her right wrist. There was an unmistakable flicker of excitement in her eye when I tightened the bail and I felt an answering response in my groin. Chrome and female flesh just do it to me. But I was totally shot now. I led her into the bedroom. I removed anything she could use as a weapon and used the chain to fasten her right hand to the headboard. She could still move around but she wasn't going anywhere. I checked that the chain was secure and was just about to leave when she said, "Stay with me?" I'm not a trusting soul by nature, but if she was a con then I was so stupid I didn't deserve to live. I'd been heading for the living room sofa but now I stopped. "If that's what you want," I said. "But no complaints if I snore." I pulled back the sheets and we both got in. She rolled around till she got comfortable with her handcuff, punched up a pillow under her cheek and lay there staring at the wall. I tried to keep an eye on her but I was exhausted and couldn't keep my eyes open. I was asleep within seconds. $ $ $ I woke up to the sound of a muffled cell phone ringing. It wasn't mine. Alena was already up and staring at the suitcase. "It's him," she said. "My call's over due." I looked at my watch—four o'clock. "What if you don't call?" "The hell with him anyhow. I'm not going back. Besides..." She held up her wrist with the cuff on it. "What can I do?" Her phone rang again and I went and opened the suitcase. It was too late for the call but the messages said he'd called once at 1:00 and every hour since. I turned her phone off and took mine out. There was one message from Josh. He was flying to Athens. He warned me to be careful. I called the desk and asked if anyone had been looking for me, but no, no one. The desk informed me that there was something wrong with my room phone and they'd send someone up at my convenience but I told them there was no hurry. "I have to go to the bathroom," Alena announced from the other room. "Me too," I said. "I get to go first." When I finished I came out and got the key to unlock the cuffs. "You don't need to use these," she said, holding up the cuff. "I won't run. I have no place to go." I unlocked the chain from the free cuff but left the one around her wrist. I ran my finger over it. "That's too bad. I kind of like them." She looked me in the eye and said, "I do too." I took the cuffs off and let her use the bathroom. I was waiting for her when she came out, wrapped demurely in one of the complimentary robes. "Come on," I said. "I want to take a shower and I'm not leaving you alone." "Really, you think I'm more dangerous than I am, Jeffrey." "I know exactly how dangerous you are," I said. "Besides, your twenty-four hours aren't up yet." "So is this for your protection, or just because just want it?" I looked at her. "What difference does it make?" It made all the difference in the world, and she knew it. She knew it because as she walked past me to go back into the bathroom, she let the robe fall off her shoulders, a gesture so brazen and unexpected that I just grabbed her arm and pulled her towards me. She was playing me, pushing me this way and that with her body and there was nothing I could do about it. My desire made me weak. I was like putty in her hands and my only defense was to grab her and crush her to me. It worked though. She was playing me because she wanted something too. Maybe she needed her dignity back or maybe she just wanted to show me that she had a hook in me too, a hook I couldn't fight. She kissed me with a hunger that felt like revenge. She made me moan as if I were in pain. We showered together. She washed my back and then soaped herself up and washed my front with her own body, standing there rubbing her tits and belly against me and swaying like a cobra with her hands around my neck and her teeth in my lip. She used her body like a kid used a new toy, delighted with the effect she had on me, the way she could make me gasp and grab at her and hold her tight enough to leave bruises "I wish I could trust you," I sighed, sliding my hands down to grab her ass. She was sliding her soapy hands down my cock, one after the other, as if she were climbing a rope, and my belly was quivering from what she was doing to me. "Who cares about trust?" she asked, licking my lip "Cuff me again. Why take chances?" She was serious, and that got me so fucking excited that I pushed her back against the wall of the shower, pressed her wrists against the tile and kissed her hard as the water ran down on us so thick we couldn't breathe. I pulled away from her and the water streaming over her face and eyelashes reminded me of come, of that beautiful face dripping with semen, and I grabbed her again and kissed her as I slid the head of my cock against her slit trying to work my way into her. She pushed her hips out and bent her knees so she could tilt herself up at me, and the head of my prick parted those honey-sweet lips and just nudged inside. "Oh fuck!" she moaned. I couldn't get in like this, so I spun her around and pushed her against the wall. She spread her legs and pushed her ass out at me and I saw her sweet little pussy peeking out at me from beneath her ass, her labia like two chubby little buns. I couldn't resist, and I ran my thumb up her hot slit then turned my hand over and spanked her pussy with the back of my fingers. Alena gasped and cried out, then slid her hands down the wall as she pushed her ass out farther towards me. "Do it again!" she hissed. "Spank it. Spank that bad pussy!" She was driving me nuts, absolutely nuts, as if she were reading my mind, knowing just what I wanted. I grabbed hold of her hair and pulled her head back to make her arch her back further and then I spanked her cunt from behind, the water streaming off our bodies and running down the drain. I slapped that wet little cunt like it was a disobedient pet and Alena loved it. She squealed and snarled back at me, then slid her hand between her legs and held herself open so I could spank the tender pink flesh inside. My head was swimming with lust; my hand was spanking her fast, splashing in the pool of wetness between her thighs. Alena growled like an animal and looked at me with fire in her eyes. Her phone rang again as we hurriedly toweled off but we paid it no attention. She was trembling as I put the cuffs back on her—both wrists this time, cuffing them behind her back—and pushed her down on the bed. "Make me," she said. "Make me do what you want." What I wanted was her. What I wanted was that pussy in my mouth. She couldn't stop me this time, and I pushed her knees up against her tits, leaned over her and licked her from asshole to clit, just like a cow licks salt—a big, broad, swipe of my tongue that brought her head up in a terrified whine, as if I was going to do something bad to her when all I wanted was to let her taste soak into me like rain into a sun-baked patch of earth. Her toes curled against the soles of her feet and her stomach jumped and trembled as if she'd been hit with a cattle prod.. But eating her wasn't enough, tonguing her wasn't enough. I pulled my greasy face from her sex and spanked her cunt again, slapping her clit with the backs of my hand as if it was an uppity bitch and she went wild, writhing on the bed, pulling at the cuffs and arching her back. "I'm your bad girl," she moaned. "I'm your bad slut, aren't I, baby?" I stood up and brought my prick to her face where she lay on the mattress. "Suck it, Alena!" I growled. "Open your mouth and suck my fucking cock!" She did, turning her head towards me and letting me slide my big prick into that sweet, pouting mouth, open with a woman's hunger for the angry taste of turgid male flesh. I grabbed her wet hair in my fist and held her head up as I began to move my hips, fucking her mouth and pulling her against me. Once I got her going, I reached down with my other hand and began to slap it against her wet and quivering pussy again. It was just what she wanted. She yanked on the cuffs, arched her back and lifted her ass off the bed on her shoulders and heels, legs spread as her mouth slid up and back on my cock, her cheeks hollowing, nostrils flared. I could hear her muffled screams of outrage and excitement as I stuffed her full of thick cock and brought my hand down on that wet swamp between her thighs. I used her as I'd never used a woman in my life. What did it matter? We were two strangers with nothing to lose. She didn't have to put it on with me and play the virtuous and long-suffering wife, and I wouldn't let her. She could be as raw and as selfish and uninhibited as she wanted, knowing she'd never see me again, We weren't in love. We were free. "Whore! Slut! You love it, don't you, Alena? Love having a big cock shoved down your throat while I spank your whore cunt! You're gong to come, aren't you, bitch? You're going to come from having your pussy spanked!" It was just sex talk but I was right and we both knew it. Her body was out of control, her hips lurching up at me, violent shudders wracking her frame and making her tits tremble on her chest. She pulled her feet up under her ass and spread her knees wide, and below that angry red pussy I could see her bound hands clawing at the bedcover. She howled in frustration as I pulled my cock out of her mouth and yanked her around so her ass was on the edge of the bed. I pushed her knees back up against her chest and dove into the hot clutch of her fevered cunt. "Oh fuck!" I snarled. I was leaning over her, my feet on the floor and my knees jammed against the side of the bed. This way I could swing my hips and send my prick thundering up into her, slamming against her labia at the end and mashing them flat. I rammed into her, and I fucked her so hard I had to wrap my arms around her shoulders and put one hand on the top of her head to keep from driving her across the mattress with every thrust. She wailed, she cried, she swore at me in her own language but she had no defense against me as I used my thighs and the muscles in my ass to fill her with my thick shaft, holding her down to keep her in place. I couldn't last, I didn't even want to control the savagery with which I took her. I levered myself up and looked down at her and my ass never missed a beat. I stared at this blonde beauty beneath me, handcuffed and fucked, eyes clenched tight and mouth open and I knew I was on the edge. I was on the edge but she beat me to it. Her cries and moans got louder and shriller and suddenly she screamed, just shrieked; pushed that hot pussy up at me and her stomach jerked as she gushed with a flood of wetness like nothing I've ever seen before, a bolt of scalding fluid that shot from her stuffed pussy and bathed my cock and balls in dripping, feminine wetness I looked at her face but her eyes had rolled up under her fluttering lids and her mouth hung open uselessly, her tongue like a dead thing. "Oh fuck! Oh fuck! Oh Christ!" The spasms started in my ass, in my prostate, and rushed through my loins to explode in gushes of hot cream that poured into her shuddering body. The salacious image of that fluid spurting from her pussy was burned into my mind but what I poured into her was pure love, pure desire, all I had to offer her. And maybe it was enough, because when we'd finished I felt her body shaking and realized she was weeping. She'd rolled over to hide her face, but she was weeping, and I didn't have to ask her why. Instead I kissed her tears and kissed her eyes and found her mouth, and as we kissed and she cried I started getting hard again $ $ $ Another man's wife, but she was mine now too. Her cell phone didn't ring again until late that night. By that time we were lying naked in bed talking. She kept the handcuffs on, her hands cuffed in front, so everything she did, she did with both hands. I lay with my head on her stomach and she played with my hair and told me about the little girl from the strict family who'd run with the fast crowd after college, of how she'd met Bogdan and how exciting he'd seemed at the time, how marriage had seemed like the only way to get back at her parents, and how they disowned her since then. She told me how it was now, with no place to turn, all her family and friends having turned their backs on her. We dressed—Alena wearing her blue dress with no underwear—and ordered dinner. I took her cuffs off and we ate in companionable silence. I had them put a rose on her plate, and at this point I was violently in love with her. She blushed when she saw it and set it in her water glass. "And what about you?" she asked me as we finished our meal. "You know all about me now. What about you? Who are you really?" "No one much," I said. "Nothing to brag about. I run some dope. Freelance. Mind my own business, usually." "Where are you from?" "Originally? Chicago." Thinking about it made me think about Chloe, and that made me feel bad. "Family?" "A younger sister, Chloe. She's just starting college." I was going to tell her how I was paying her tuition with Turkish hashish, but that just seemed like I'd be using Chloe, and I didn't want to do that. "You're going back there then?" "I don't know. Eventually, yeah. I have a few more things I have to do, then I don't know. I might like to go somewhere cool for a while. Amsterdam maybe, or Paris. Or maybe I'll just go back to Chicago." I looked at her. "Would you come with me?" "To Chicago?" "Anywhere." "I'm bad luck." She smiled. "You wouldn't want me." There was no sense trying to convince her otherwise, so I didn't. I led her back into the bedroom and had her take her dress off. The sight of her body still set me off. I put the cuffs back on her, both of them this time, and chained her wrists around the big pipe in the headboard so she had to lie on her side with her cheek on her hands. "Do you always carry handcuffs with you when you travel?" she asked me. I smiled. "They come in handy." I stretched out on my back on the bed next to her and put my arm over my eyes. I heard her clanking around in the cuffs, trying to get comfortable. "Do you want them off?" I asked her. "No." I rolled over so I was facing her. Her eyes were open, a clear, profound, brown, deep and peaceful. Her hair was like spun gold around her face, a beautiful, angelic face, the lips softly parted. She was chained naked to my bed, a fact that hit me with sudden, unexpected erotic force. She was helpless by decision and therefore almost certainly willing. She was giving herself to me. The realization must have shown on my face, because I saw a change in her eyes as she looked at me—a confirmation, a eager trust coupled with fear. She searched my face, trying to read my thoughts. I put out my hand and caressed her cheek and she closed her eyes. From her cheek I went to her shoulder, my hand sliding along the smooth, baby-like skin, down her side, up the swell of her hip and over, down to her thigh, fresh-shaved and smooth as marble. She really was mine, for now at least. I could do whatever I wanted to her and she couldn't escape, couldn't defend herself. The thought sunk into me like a shot of liquor and must have showed in the way I caressed her, for she felt it too. She closed her eyes and sighed and I felt her shudder. Game of Chance I got up on my elbow and looked down at her. Her eyes told me to go ahead: whatever I wanted. I got off the bed, walked around to her side and grabbed hold of her ankles. She gave an involuntary gasp as I pulled her bodily down the bed, cave-man style, stretching her arms up over her head and making the chain clank. She didn't weigh anything at all. I lay down next to her, took her hair in my hand and turned her to face me. "You like being tied up like this, don't you Alena? You and me, we're both the same. You like to be tied, I like to tie you. I love how you look like this." There was no way she could deny it. Her lips were parted, her eyes were glazed with lust and excitement at my sudden hint of violence. Her arms over her head brought her breasts up and into prominence. She squeezed her knees together, but that wouldn't help her now. I took a breast in my hand and squeezed. It was soft and warm and heavy. The nipple was so hard it tickled my palm like a raisin. She tried to say something but I silenced her with my mouth, grabbed her hair and held her still. She didn't try to struggle this time—what was the use? We both knew what was happening and we were far past lying about what we wanted, I fell on her tits like a man possessed and Alena whined and tried to protect herself by closing her elbows, but her elbows were up by her head and all she did was make herself easier to get to. The chain pulled tight against the headboard as I ate her breasts, biting and sucking them, leaving teeth prints on them, and soon Alena was arching her back and rolling gently from side to side, presenting first one then the other to me, her head thrown back, little moans and whimpers of urgent excitement escaping her lips. I started kissing her, tracing my way down her body—from the prominence of her breasts along her arched rib cage. I licked my way down the soft rolls of her abs and felt the muscles spasm under my seeking tongue. It still rankled me that she had stopped me from going down on her before, saying she was too sensitive. Well I had her now, had her defenseless. I headed south. "No! Oh no, don't!" she moaned, pulling at the chain as my tongue slid back and forth along the saddle of her lower belly. She had her legs clamped together, but Nature made those muscles weak for a reason, and it was nothing to force them apart. I pressed her knees open and began licking the insides of her thighs, from just above her knee all the way up to just short of where her valley began. It was delicious to feel those legs tremble in my hands I could feel her worried eyes on me, feel the tension in her body as she gripped the chain. She knew what I was going to do and she was terrified. My mouth was on that super-soft band of skin between leg and labia, nuzzling her, licking her with all the tenderness that a mother cat uses on her newborn. Her pussy was shaved, bare as a baby's and twice as soft, and I inhaled her clean scent. Once she found that I wasn't going to glom onto her pussy like a wild boar or try and bite her tender clit or ram my tongue into her, she started to relax. I opened my mouth and brushed my lips against her labia, so softly I could barely feel her, just feel the sexual aura that comes from being so close to that divine mystery. Alena sighed. She hummed. She mewled with pleasure. I began to dab my tongue gently along against her crease as if I were sponging sweat from her brow, and I marveled that any human being could be that soft and heartbreakingly sensitive. I didn't have to hold her legs apart any more, and I slid my hands under her ass to hold her up to where I could get to that voluptuous slit. "Oh, Jeffrey, that's good!" she moaned in wonder. "God, that's so good!" I knew what her trouble was. No one had ever taken the time to make love to her like this. She'd been mauled, chomped on, mishandled, but now I gave her a lesson in tenderness, a tenderness that nonetheless pursued her and wouldn't let her escape, that grew less tender as we proceeded and as she began to lubricate and flower, writhing on the bed, her gasps and breathless sighs getting louder and louder, till every breath was an exhaled "Ohhhh..." I could look up at her, at this woman whose pleasure I held between my lips, and I marveled that such a delicate body could contain this kind of emotional power. Alena hung onto the chains with both hands and began to run her naked foot across my back to encourage me as I kissed and sucked her pussy. I couldn't help but think of Bogdan out there somewhere fuming, drinking, cursing the night, and it made her all the sweeter. The clock was ticking, the moon was rising over the hills to the east of town. I ate her like I kissed her, using my tongue and my shoulders, even my chest and my belly to urge her on and find the sweetness in my mouth. Just let her come, I thought. Just let her feel one tenth of what I feel for her. Just let her feel my love. She pulled harder on the chains now. I could see her arms and belly trembling, her thighs shaking. She stared down at me and I knew my mouth was her world, my mouth was everything she knew, everything she cared about, and I wished I could keep her there like that forever. I parted her labia and found the sweet pink flesh within, her secret self, primitive and biological, and even here she was beautiful. :Oh God! Oh Jeffrey! Oh God what are you doing to me, lover? You're going to make me come! You're gong to... Oh! Oh yes! Yes!" Beautiful little slut! Her head fell back and I saw her eyes roll up under her lids and her mouth go slack as the insides of her thighs twitched in an earthquake of impending release. "Do it!" I said into her cunt as I dug my fingers into her ass and held her like a chalice to my mouth. "Come in my mouth, bitch! Give me your slutty come!" She growled out the next sounds, screamed them as her body jerked out of control and once again a splash of juice ejaculated from between her legs followed by a great, rolling, soul-obliterating orgasm as she came in the chains, her body buffeted this was and that by her spasming muscles. I kept my face buried in her pussy, letting the froth of her remarkable release drip down my nose and lips, spill down her ass and over my fingers, hot from the heat of her body. I couldn't stand it. I lurched up the bed and took her still-shuddering form in my arms and held her close, that delicate body, so much stronger than mine. "Oh God, Jeffrey! I don't know what you do to me but it's good! It's unbelievably good." $ $ $ We slept, we woke up, we made love again. We couldn't go back to sleep because now there was no question but that she was coming with me, and we lay there through the early hours making plans. Chicago, Amsterdam, Paris, it didn't matter. First we'd be going to Athens anyhow where Josh was holding my money. The cash I'd taken from Bogdan would see us that far in great style. We got up at six in the morning and ordered room service. I was ravenous and ate two pork chops and half a loaf of fresh bread. "Paris would be nice," she said, holding my hand across the table. "I have a cousin there, and we were great friends. But it's so expensive. Is Chicago expensive?" "Everyplace is expensive. You don't know how good you have it here." She smiled. She couldn't stop smiling. "It would be worth it. I could work. I'd do anything. I could be a waitress. I'd even shine shoes." I laughed. "No one shines shoes anymore. Everyone wears athletic shoes." "Still..." She was like that as we packed. We still hadn't decided how we would get her things out of Bogdan's house, but I didn't worry about it. "Let's get out of here," I said. "I want to see that little park you told me about. The one by the harbor." "You do? Why?" "It sounded like a nice, quiet place. We can sit there and figure things out." We checked out and I got my passport back, and we retraced our steps from yesterday. We made a game of looking at people's shoes, looking for ones to shine. We didn't see many. She still carried her rose. I had my suitcase in one hand and she took my arm like a lady. The weight in my jacket wore me down. The sun was hardly up and already it was very hot. When we reached the park it was still early and the place was deserted. The morning breeze stirred the tops of the trees as we walked along, stopping by a bench in front of a little wild spot choked with weeds and young trees. We sat on the bench, and I couldn't put it off any longer. She didn't feel a thing. I just got up to go to the bushes, came back with the gun in my hand, put it behind her ear and fired. I aimed it so the bullet wouldn't ruin that face. I laid her on the bench and walked away. I left her the rose. I went back to the café and called Bogdan on my cell. "There's something for you at the little park on Tramonte street," I said. "It's a message from Turgay Ozalan. He knows what you and Grecco have been doing, and he wants you to stop." I was sorry to do it. I really loved her, and she was so good in bed. But you know, it comes to us all sooner or later, and at least she didn't suffer. Sometimes you cut the cards, you get an ace. Sometimes you get a deuce. Usually it's something in between, something that makes you think you have a chance, but you don't, not really. In the end we all get the same hand. In the end you're sitting there without a penny to bet and with shit in your hand, and you know it's all up for you. It's a fucked up world I went back to the café but I didn't feel like hanging around. The games of cards and backgammon were starting up again, and I watched for a while but I didn't feel like playing anymore. The whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth. I went and threw the gun in the harbor, then I caught a cab for the airport. Fuck it, I thought. Just fuck it all.