Ordinary Hero

by Ellis Michaels

  I don't know what it was with that word, but I'd been hearing it a lot lately. Don't get me wrong – I loved it. I'd always wanted to be considered heroic. But it was weird hearing it come out of the mouths of so many different women – and gorgeous women at that.

  For someone who'd just narrowly escaped death a day earlier, she looked magnificent. Her ribs were wrapped and she had a bandage on her arm and another small one on her forehead. But, other than that, she looked great. She was a little shorter than me with long blonde hair and two of the bluest eyes I'd ever seen. It was hard to tell exactly how old she was but, if I had to guess at the time, I would've guessed late twenties.

  “I appreciate you coming here to thank me but it's really not necessary,” I said. “I am curious to know, though: How did you find me?”

  “I hope you don't mind. One of the police officers were nice enough to give me your name. After a quick Facebook search, I saw that you're a student and that you work here. I figured it would be easier to find you here than at your school.”

  “Well, your timing is good because, if you had shown up just a few minutes later, I would've been gone. I'm closing up right now. Thank you for coming by.”

  “I'm Melissa, by the way,” she said, offering me her hand.

  “Nice to meet you, Melissa,” I replied, shaking it.

  “I was really hoping to thank you in a more sincere manner,” she said with a smile, taking a step closer to me. Melissa had one of the most inviting smiles I'd ever seen. “After all, you saved my life. That's no small matter. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be standing here right now. Let me really thank you the way you deserve to be thanked.”

  Melissa took another step closer to me and I took a step back – or at least tried to. I moved my foot back and it hit a massive gong that we had in the store. It'd been in the middle of the store for as long as I'd worked there. Nobody wanted to buy a four-foot gong because, when you hit it with a mallet, it made an obnoxious sound that rang for the better part of a minute. And, when you accidentally backed into it, it fell to the ground and made an even more obnoxious sound.

  CRASH!!!

  Melissa and I looked down at the gong for a moment. We were both startled. The sound it made was incredibly loud. Then, we looked up at each other and started laughing like crazy.

  “Whoops,” I said with a nervous smile.

  Melissa again took a step closer to me. I don't know why my instinct was to get away from her. She was incredibly hot and it was obvious what she was trying to do. It dawned on me that I was doing what I always did – trying to run away from what I really wanted. Up until the past couple days, I'd never really had a fight-or-flight response. I only had a run-like-hell setting.

  I took a deep breath and reminded myself that things were different now. The past forty-eight hours had changed me. I'd proven to myself that I wasn't the scared, awkward loser that I'd always thought I was. I had, within me, the power to take charge and go after what I wanted. And, in that moment, I knew exactly what I wanted: her.

  “You really want to thank me?” I asked, taking a step closer to her.

  “Yes, I do,” she replied with a beautiful smile.

  I grabbed Melissa's arms, pulled her toward me, and wrapped them around my waist. After brushing a few stray hairs from her face, I grabbed her waist and pulled her body up against mine.

  “Then thank me,” I said with confidence.

  7.

  Melissa's exceptionally-soft lips met mine and we started making out in the middle of the music store. I ran my hands all over her body, playfully grabbing her butt. Her hands found their way under my shirt and they were just as soft as her sexy lips. We stood there in the middle of the store making out for what felt like an hour. I don't know what it was about making out that always made time seem like it was standing still but, for some reason, it always happened.

  “Come over here,” Melissa said, grabbing my hand and leading me over to the only piano we had in the store. “Sit.”

  I sat down on the piano bench. It was a beautiful baby grand piano that nobody ever even thought about buying but it looked nice in the store. Melissa ran her fingers over my crotch and unbuckled my belt. I was already turned on from making out and getting more turned on by the second. She pulled my pants and boxers down and got between my legs.

  “Ahhhhhh,” I moaned as Melissa wrapped her silky-soft lips around me.

  I threw my head back and closed my eyes as she pleasured me in the middle of the music store. I'd fantasized about fooling around in there a million times but never thought it would actually happen. I did my best to hide my excitement but didn't do a very good job.

  “This is freakin' awesome!” I said.

  “I'm glad you're enjoying yourself,” Melissa said, looking up at me with her beautiful blue eyes. “You deserve it. You're my hero.”

  She immediately went back to doing what she was doing and did it well. Again, I threw my head back and moaned. I leaned back on the piano keys and the sound echoed throughout the store. Melissa ran her fingers up the insides of my legs and over my belly while she pleasured me. She was playing me like a finely-tuned instrument. It all felt incredible and I tried to make the experience last as long as possible, but I could only last so long.

  “Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!” I yelled as Melissa finished me off.

  She stood up after and smiled at me. I shook my head in disbelief with a big smile of my own. Even though it'd just happened, I couldn't believe that I'd gotten head from a gorgeous woman in the middle of the music store.

  “I hope you enjoyed that,” Melissa said.

  “Put it this way: That was the most sincere 'thank you' I've ever gotten,” I replied. “You didn't have to repay me for saving your life in the first place, but I'll definitely consider myself thanked.”

  “I'm glad you enjoyed it,” she said with a smile. “But you saved my life. I sucked your dick. I don't think those two things are even remotely in the same ballpark.”

  “Maybe not, but I don't want you to feel like you owe me anything.”

  “Well, that's just too bad because I do. I feel like I owe you my life.”

  I pulled up my pants and stood up as we talked. Melissa was standing just a little closer to me than I was used to any woman standing next to me – well, up until recently, anyway. I went from being on a record-breaking cold streak to having women coming at me from every angle in less than two days. I certainly wasn't complaining – just saying.

  “How about this,” Melissa continued. “How about I give you my number? If there's anything I can do for you, don't hesitate to call.”

  “Okay,” I replied, putting another smile on Melissa's face.

  She gave me her number and we talked for another few minutes before I showed her to the door. I learned a lot about her in those few minutes. Not only was Melissa a gorgeous twenty-eight-year-old woman, she also told me that she's a medical doctor. A woman like that could have any guy that she wanted and there she was, licking the last-remaining evidence of what we'd just done off her lips before kissing me goodbye. I couldn't believe that I'd just gotten head from a doctor. As I watched her tight body bounce its way to her car as she walked away on the balls of her feet, I shook my head in disbelief with a big, goofy smile on my face.

  “Unbelievable,” I said, slowly.

  After Melissa left, I finished closing up the music store. Once I'd taken care of all my responsibilities, I sat down to play a little guitar before I left. That was the biggest perk of working in a music shop: I got to play all the instruments. Guitar was my favorite instrument by far, but I also liked to play around on the drums sometimes. Music had always been a big part of my life ever since I was a kid. It gave me comfort and when I had an instrument in my hands, all the anxieties of the world would wash away.

  I took a Fender Stratocaster off the wall and plugged it into a Marshall amplifier. It was a vintage guitar from the 1960's, well out of my price ran
ge. I took a seat on a piano bench and put the expensive instrument on my lap, then turned up the volume and strummed a G chord. There was something about the sound of an electric guitar that filled me full of energy. It was just so raw and pure. I loved it.

  I sat there playing guitar for a while, letting the music take over my thoughts. It was nice to get a break from thinking about all the strange things that'd happened to me over the previous couple days. Music was always good for that. It allowed my overactive brain to stop thinking about everything and just feel.

  Once I'd had my fill, I put the Strat back up on the wall. I locked up the store and headed back to my apartment. When I got there, Amber was sitting on the couch, cell phone in hand. I walked in the door and she hopped up off the couch and ran over to me like a faithful canine would – not that I'm calling Amber a dog. Wearing nothing but a plain white tee shirt of mine, she looked gorgeous.

  “I hope you don't mind,” Amber said, running a single finger down my side. “I took a shower and don't like putting on dirty clothes afterward so I grabbed a tee shirt out of your room.”

  “I don't mind at all,” I replied and smiled. “Where's Kasie? She's not home yet?”

  “I haven't seen her,” Amber answered, wrapping her arms around me. “It's just you and me all alone with the entire apartment to ourselves. What, oh what should we do?”

  I'd just gotten off a little while earlier with Melissa but was more than ready to go again. I usually didn't have such a short refractory period but with so many beautiful girls being all over me, I couldn't seem to get enough. I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her body up against mine.

  “You know exactly what we should do,” I replied, confidently.

  Amber's hand went down my pants maybe a millisecond after our lips met. We ferociously kissed in front of the door, which I spun her around and pinned her against.

  “You smell like perfume,” Amber said and stopped kissing me.

  I thought I was busted. I thought that Amber was going to be mad that I had the scent of another woman on me. I thought wrong. Way wrong.

  “I like it,” she said, cheerfully. “Ask whatever girl that was wearing it what the name of it is, would you please? If you see her again.”

  Amber immediately resumed kissing and touching me as I had her pinned up against the door. I ran my hands over her perfect body, giving her breasts a playful squeeze. Amber started kissing my neck and she called my name – or at least I thought she did. I wasn't sure how she could've called my name while kissing me, but I didn't question it at the time. A few seconds later I heard my name again, realizing that it wasn't Amber saying it.

  “James!” Kasie yelled through the door, knocking on it. “The front door is stuck. It won't open. Are you in there?”

  Amber and I looked at each other and shared a brief, silent laugh. Kasie couldn't get in because I had Amber pinned against the front door.

  “One minute,” I yelled back.

  I motioned for Amber to go sit down on the couch. As soon as she was on the sofa, I pulled the front door open, pretending that it had been stuck.

  “Ah, got it,” I said. “I'll have to take a look at the door to make sure it doesn't get stuck again.”

  Kasie walked in and looked back and forth between Amber and I. She didn't say anything, but the look on my best friend's face told me that she could tell what we were doing before she'd interrupted us. Kasie went into her room for a minute and then came out wearing sweats and joined me and Amber on the couch.

  “Any more craziness happen to Mr. Interesting since this morning?” Kasie asked, putting her hand on my leg.

  I told Kasie about the events of the day. Both her and Amber seemed a little jealous when I told them about Melissa coming into the music store to “thank” me.

  “You're getting 'thanked' all over the place,” Kasie said, using air quotes every time she used that word. “Maybe I need to go out and save somebody's life so I can get 'thanked.' I haven't gotten a really good, hard 'thanking' in a long time.”

  “Or maybe I need to save your life so you can 'thank' me!” I replied with a smile.

  “I know what you can do to make me wanna thank you,” Kasie said in a seductive voice. She didn't use air quotes that time.

  “Oh yeah?” I asked. “What?”

  “Make dinner,” Kasie answered in her normal voice. “It's your night.”

  Amber laughed. Kasie smiled at me and, after maintaining a blank stare for as long as I could, I smiled back at her.

  “I'll get started soon,” I replied. “After we watch the evening news.”

  We put on the news and got comfortable on the couch. I kicked my sneakers off and put my feet up on the coffee table. The girls were both dressed comfortably but I was still wearing my work clothes. I was starting to get a little more used to having not one but two sexy young women in the apartment but still found it hard not to check them out every so often. Amber's legs looked good enough to eat and Kasie's breasts were practically spilling out of her top. It was almost impossible to keep my eyes off them – almost. When the news came on, my attention shifted.

  “We have breaking news coming out of downtown tonight. A bank robbery turned deadly when the masked criminal was confronted by an armed security guard. The robber managed to disarm the guard, fatally shooting him with his own firearm. Police have already issued a statement saying that they believe this is the work of the same man who has already robbed two Boston banks this week. They say it's unclear if he's working alone or if anyone else is involved. The police are urging anyone who may have information about the bank robber to notify BPD as soon as possible. We'll keep you updated with any further developments. Here's Julie with the weather.”

  Kasie, Amber, and I all looked at each other. We knew who was responsible. Well, I knew who was responsible and they knew that I knew.

  “You have to do something,” Kasie said, looking right at me. “He's not just robbing banks anymore – he's killing people.”

  “You think I should call the police?” I asked.

  “The police aren't gonna be able to do anything,” Amber replied. “What are you gonna tell them? That some kid in your class wears an elastic around his wrist so he must be the bank robber? They're gonna laugh at you. And have you forgotten what happened just yesterday? You killed someone. Remember?”

  “Of course I remember!” I said, almost angry that Amber would even ask me that.

  “Then you should also remember that we're trying to avoid the police – not calling their attention to us. If you call them and they do take you seriously, do you think they're just gonna be like, 'Thanks for the tip. See ya!' No, they're gonna come over here and ask you a bunch of questions. And when they find out that I'm Paul Rizzo's girlfriend – or was his girlfriend – they're gonna ask me a bunch of questions. Then it would just be a matter of time until Paul's guys came looking for me. The Southie Soldiers have several cops on their payroll.”

  “She's right,” Kasie agreed. “You shouldn't go to the police. But you have to do something.”

  I really didn't want to do anything. Sure, Carter was a bad guy and needed to be stopped. And, if I'm being honest, I loved the idea of me being the one to stop him. But, looking back, I was afraid. I often let fear hold me back from doing the things I wanted to do. This time, though, I couldn't let my anxiety control me. I had not one but two beautiful women begging me to do something.

  “You're right,” I said, doing my best to sound confident. “I do.”

  Both girls smiled. Amber even clapped her hands a couple of times.

  “What are you going to do?” Kasie asked, eagerly, leaning toward me.

  I hadn't thought that far ahead yet but knew I had to say something brave and manly if I wanted the girls to keep looking at me the way that they were.

  “Whatever I have to,” I answered.

  I could've sworn that both girls shrunk an inch as they melted into the couch
. They looked at me with wide eyes, as if I'd just saved a dozen puppies from a burning building. I didn't know how I was going to go about stopping Carter but I knew that the first thing I needed to do was find him. The only person that I knew who also knew Carter was Krystal, the girl from my philosophy class I'd run into that morning.

  “You're so brave,” Amber said, lightly running a single finger down my arm.

  “Yes, he is,” Kasie agreed, shooting Amber a quick dirty look while running two fingers up my leg.

  Either one of their touches would've been enough to give me goosebumps. But when they both lightly touched me at the same time, it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I tried to convince myself that I was going to go after Carter because it was the right thing to do. And sure, that was a part of it. He was a bad guy and needed to be stopped. Really, though, I was doing it for the two beautiful young women sitting next to me. I didn't want to disappoint them. They were both under the impression that I was some kind of hero and I didn't want that to end anytime soon.

  “Who's hungry?” I asked.

  “I am!”

  “Me!”

  I made dinner for the three of us. Amber helped me and it drove Kasie crazy. She sat in the living room on her phone, occasionally glancing up to either smile at me or to make faces at Amber when she wasn't looking. I didn't know what had come over her but I was loving it. The more attention I got from other women, the more my best friend was getting jealous. The question was, what did I want to do about it?

  Kasie and I had been friends forever – best friends. Did I want to risk messing that up by hooking up with her? Of course, there was a part of me that did. Kasie was incredibly hot and I'd been fantasizing about getting with her for years. It wasn't just that, though. I liked her as a person. I loved her as a person. Kasie had one of the most vibrant personalities I'd ever come across. She was all around one of the most attractive women I'd ever met.

  Amber and I finished cooking and the three of us sat down to eat dinner. We talked about all the crazy things that had happened to me and about how I was going to stop Carter. I still hadn't come up with a solid plan but knew that the first thing I had to do was contact Krystal. The girls wanted me to take action immediately, but I convinced them to let me get a good night's sleep first. I was getting tired and needed some rest.