Violet Among The Roses

by Cricket Starr

  The minx laughed from her side of the glass. She tapped the inside with her pink toy, making a pinging sound. “Just Nina, now. You’d be surprised how many people equate my name with something dire.”

  Flooded by surprised anger, Nick couldn’t keep the bitterness out of his voice. “Yeah, well my name has acquired some interesting baggage as well. Either I’m a kind of flower, or a self-absorbed cretin…thanks to you.”

  Her smile looked satisfied. “Poor Narcissus. Or should I call you Nick? I heard through the Olympian grapevine that you’d been given a brief reprieve. Something about another flower or a deflowering—which was it?”

  She’d always been cute with words. “If you’re referring to me, yes I’m no longer a virgin. As for the rest…”

  “Oh, yes, that was it. She was a flower, too, this woman deserving of your love. Lily, wasn’t it?”

  “Violet. Not that it should be important to you.”

  “Everything about you is important to me, Nick. After all, you were my first great love.”

  “I wouldn’t call it love, Nemesis, cursing a man just because he doesn’t tumble for you.”

  The little demoness had the nerve to look contrite. “Wouldn’t you, Nick?”

  “No I wouldn’t. Do you know what I’ve suffered because of this obsession of yours?”

  “I’m sure you’ve suffered absolute tons, poor baby. That’s the reason I wanted to talk to you.” Even through the sympathetic tone of her voice, Nick could see her pleasure in his discomfort. Not wanting to remain the butt of her jokes, he picked up the TV remote to turn it off. At least he could shut her up.

  Nina tapped the inside of the glass with her fake penis again. “Oh, Nick. Don’t touch that dial. Don’t you want to hear how I’m going to make it up to you?”

  His finger hesitated over the big red button. “There is nothing I want from you.”

  “Not even to be free of the curse?”

  His breath froze in his chest, and for an instant Nick thought he’d turned to stone again. “What are you talking about, Nemesis?”

  “Nina, please…” her voice sounded sulky, and Nick groaned inwardly, knowing that tone from before.

  “Nina, then. What do you mean ‘free of the curse’?”

  Smiling she leaned closer to the screen. “I mean I can get you free of the curse, free to be a man for as long as you live. Free to fuck your little flower for the rest of your life.”

  Nick swallowed hard. “How?”

  “I talked to Aphrodite and she agreed that you’d been punished long enough and that she’d let you stay as you are right now.”

  His breath caught in his throat. It was far too good to be true. “You convinced Aphrodite to let me stay human? Really?”

  “Certainly…” She looked indignant. “Do you think I would lie about that?”

  “No, of course not. One thing you never were was a liar.” A sniveling conniving bitch, perhaps, but she’d always told the truth, her version anyway.

  “Well, I’m glad we’re agreed. There’s just one thing—you have to pass a test. Aphrodite wants to be sure that you learned from your experiences.”

  “What kind of a test?”

  “Oh nothing you can’t handle. You need to satisfy a woman. Sexually, of course.”

  Satisfy a woman? But he’d done that several times already, with Violet. It was far too good to be true. “Is that all?”

  Nina had a serpent’s smile on her face. “Stand up and do what you did again.”

  His uneasy feeling returned. Hoping he hadn’t understood her, he asked, “Do what again?”

  “Stand up and open the robe. Show it to me, Nick.”

  Slowly he stood and opened Violet’s robe, revealing his body. Embarrassed, he couldn’t look at the screen for a moment and when he did, he was sorry. Nina’s nose pressed hard against the glass and her breath fogged the space beneath. Her eyes were glazed in pure lust as she stared at him. To complete his humiliation, his cock even decided to react to her fevered gaze and rose even further to attention.

  “Wow, Nick. Even better than I remembered.” She pulled away, eyes bright. “I’m to test you, Nick. Learn as much as you can and then we’ll fuck tomorrow night. You satisfy me, and you can stay a man forever. Otherwise it’s back to the fountain.”

  One time with Nina and he could stay human and be with Violet. It sounded wonderful.

  It sounded horrible. His cock went limp under the robe.

  “Why didn’t Aphrodite come and tell me this?”

  “I wanted to tell you. The test was my idea after all.”

  He had trouble finding his voice. “Why are you doing this, Nina?”

  Her smile turned wicked. “Because I can, Nick. Because I wanted you and you refused me. Because I’m Nemesis.”

  Slowly Nick closed the robe. “I want to think about it,” he told her, belting it shut.

  Her eyes still glowed with subdued lust. “You do that, Nick. Think about it. You’ll take the test and pass it, or return to being a statue. I’ll contact you tomorrow for your answer.”

  Once the red button was pushed and the television had faded to black, Nick finally felt the exhaustion that had eluded him earlier. Barely able to keep his eyes open, he turned off the lamp and made his way to the bedroom, and Violet.

  She rolled to him as he slipped into the covers, settling herself along his side, the softness of her a reminder of what he stood to gain. He breathed deeply of her special smell, all warm woman. His sex stirred in response.

  Could he do that, respond to Nina as he did Violet? From what had happened in the living room, it appeared so. Sex with Violet was wonderful. Could it at least be tolerable with Nina?

  If it meant he could stay a man with Violet, surely giving Nina what she wanted would be the right thing to do.

  So why did it feel like the wrong thing?

  Too many questions and not enough answers to go around. Nick closed his eyes and allowed sleep to claim his mind, letting the argument lapse through slumber.

  Chapter Nine

  Dawn light filled the window of the room still cold from the night. Violet cuddled close to the large warm figure filling the center of the bed, sighing when his hands slipped along her back to caress her bottom and move it closer to him.

  Was there anything sweeter than early morning cuddling? Maybe one thing—early morning loving. She slid her hand down the hard stomach next to her and found an aroused cock rising majestically from the sparse curls at its base. Under her hand it pulsed as she polished it into full erection.

  Nick let out a full groan, and pulled her on top of him, one hand finding her sex, stroking it to flame, and driving her into a single-minded passion.

  Time to get Nick inside her.

  Reaching between them, Violet pulled Nick’s cock up to her cleft, and the instant the rounded head felt the opening, he drove upwards, filling her pussy with a single thrust.

  Oh, wow. Words came, then fled, as Nick took up a furious pace pistoning into her, his face intense, wild. It was almost as if he didn’t see her.

  His teeth gritted and he growled. “Is this what you wanted? This? Tell me, woman. You wanted me to fuck you?” He sounded like a man possessed.

  Unsure of what to say, more than a little unnerved by his fury, Violet gave in to his passion, rode him as best she could, trying to keep up. Her silence drove him wilder, and he leaned up, capturing her nipple with his teeth, clamping down and pinching it. She cried out at the pain and his eyes flew wide, focused on her.

  “Violet!” Immediately he slowed the furious pace, then stopped, keeping her pussy filled but no longer the subject of his furious assault. His face flushed and turned anxious. His gaze dropped to her breast and the nipple he’d bitten. “Did I hurt you?”

  “Just a little. Are you always this…energetic in the morning?”

  If anything he flushed more. “It’s my first morning with a woman, you know that. I was dreaming. Of someone.”

 
“Someone not me?”

  He groaned and buried his head between her breasts. “No, not you. Never you.”

  But what he’d said. “Someone you want to fuck?”

  “No…” Nick hesitated. “No, not at all. Just, someone.”

  “Oh, I see,” she said, but she didn’t. She looked at Nick’s face, the pain in it, the sorrow, and remembered the anger in his voice when he’d spoken. “It’s all right, Nick. You don’t have to tell me.”

  “Oh, Violet.” He gazed up at her and she once again felt what it was to be loved.

  But what they were doing, and without protection. “Nick…we aren’t…I mean you don’t have a…”

  “I know, I know.” He pulled out of her, leaving her pussy empty and aching, both from him and for him. Turning her onto her back, Nick rose to his knees and reached for the bedside drawer she’d found the condoms in last night.

  He managed to open the package himself. “This is the only one left,” he told her as he slipped it on.

  “I guess I better make a stop at the drug store.”

  Nick’s smile warmed her and drove away all her misgivings from before. “I guess you better, my sweet. I plan on using several more in the future.”

  Covered, he eased his way back in, this time slowly, taking care, making certain she was ready for him. The comparison between now and before was startling, or at least she would have been startled by it if she hadn’t been too busy enjoying the way he was sucking on her nipples and tickling her clit while he filled her with his condom-clad cock.

  A woman could only focus on so many things at once. Memories of their frantic early-morning coupling faded as Nick created new ones, much more memorable ones in their wake.

  Soon Violet rode a crest of pure sensation, Nick raised on his arms above her, her legs wrapped around his as their centers drove together in perfect unison.

  “Oh, NICK!” she screamed as the crest dropped out beneath her and she dove headfirst into the pool of passion, dimly aware of Nick’s dive right behind her. His voice screamed something inarticulate, and heat blazed between her legs as he climaxed.

  Shaking, he lowered himself to his elbows and, voice trembling, whispered into her ear. “I would do anything to be able to do this with you forever, Violet. Anything.”

  “I know, Nick.” She stroked his face, trying to hide her dismay at the thought of him leaving. “I know. I wish there was a way to keep you human.”

  Hope filled his face. “If I could do something, would it be right? If it meant I could stay with you, be a man forever?”

  “What kind of something?”

  His face turned guarded. “I can’t say…can’t talk about it now. But if I could stay, would you want me to?”

  Her own hope rising, she nodded. “I’d want you to, Nick. Even if you didn’t want to be with me, I’d want you to be free of the curse.”

  His hands clutched her tightly. “It would be to stay with you, Violet. Don’t doubt that, ever. It’s you I want always.”

  “Always is a long time.”

  “I know what a long time is, Violet. I’ve waited centuries for someone like you and I know I’ll never find another.” Still joined, he rolled them, so she rested on top of him. Violet stared into his deep brown eyes with their luxurious lashes and thrilled at the depth of the passion in them.

  “I don’t want anyone but you, ever. I’d be happy to live with you, grow old with you, and die with you. If I could, would you let me?”

  Would she let him? There would never be another man like him. “Yes, I would.”

  Joy then alarm passed across his face, the emotions chasing each other. Finally resolution filled his features, his eyes turning from warm loving brown to dark stone for a moment.

  “Then I’ll do everything I can to see it happens,” he told her with tight-lipped intensity.

  * * * * *

  Violet returned from her shower to find Nick glaring at the pathetic array of clothing options she’d left on the bed, the few items she’d found that could possibly fit him.

  Apparently the clothing might fit, but little of it appealed to him. He wore a bed sheet wrapped around him, toga style, and she had to admit it suited him far better than the torn t-shirt and open kneed sweatpants he was contemplating.

  He held them up. “Violet, where do people get clothing here?”

  “Most people buy them.”

  Interest fired in his face. “At stores? When do they open?”

  “Another hour or so…but Nick…” her voice trailed off.

  He’d caught the note of hesitation and turned his full attention to her. Putting his hands on her shoulders, he turned her to face him. “What is it, Violet?”

  “Much as I’d like to buy you a whole new wardrobe, I can’t really afford to. With my job gone, I don’t have any money coming in and there isn’t very much in my savings.”

  He chewed on his lower lip for a moment. “You need money to buy me clothes?”

  “Well, yes. And money doesn’t grow on trees.”

  Suddenly Nick grinned. Throwing off his bed-sheet garment he donned the sweatpants and t-shirt, adding a pair of flimsy rubber sandals to complete the ensemble.

  “Maybe money doesn’t grow on trees, but it can sometimes be found there.”

  Astonished, she followed him to the front door. He gave her a quick kiss before heading out. “I’ve an errand in the park but I’ll be back soon.”

  She’d completed scrambling eggs and making toast when Nick reappeared through the front door, a small leather backpack in hand. Turning it upside down, he emptied it onto the kitchen table.

  Clumps of money fell out, held together with rubber bands, one of which broke as she picked it up, scattering the bills. Most were twenties, several were hundreds. Just in the pile in front of her, Violet counted over two thousand dollars.

  “Now we can buy me some clothes,” Nick told her proudly.

  “Where did this come from?” Violet asked, astonishment vying with alarm. Had Nick held up a convenience store or something?

  “From a tree in the park. I overheard some people talking about it, many years ago. It’s loot from a robbery I think.”

  Alarm took center stage. “Loot?” Violet thrust one of the bundles back into the bag. “Nick, take it back. There might be someone looking for it.”

  “I doubt it, Violet. Not after this many years. I’m not sure, but I believe it was long before I first met you.”

  She picked up one of the loose bills and examined it. The date was 1966. Another was 1970…a quick survey showed no bills later than 1972. The outside of the leather bag showed a lot of wear and dirt, as if it had been exposed to the elements for a number of years.

  “This money has been sitting in a tree since the early seventies?”

  Nick nodded. “In a hollow portion. The leather protected the bills.”

  “I’ll say.” She held up a hundred dollar bill, still crisp in her fingers. “Outside of the dates, they’ve aged really well.”

  “Not unlike me. I’ve held up pretty well for an old man, right?”

  She laughed. She couldn’t help it. Nick had brought love, fresh air, and sunlight into her life, and now money, when she desperately needed it.

  “Nick, you are the youngest old man I know,” she told him, to his delight.

  After breakfast she drove them to the biggest discount store in town. If Nick garnered any attention because of his t-shirt and sweatpants mode of dress, it was superceded by his devastating good looks.

  They headed for the men’s department. Oddly enough for a three-thousand-year-old man made into a three-hundred-year-old statue turned into a man again, Nick had very good instincts when it came to clothing. Violet found she had little to add as he selected good solid basics, a pair of classic khaki pants, black slacks with a built-in crease, and stone-washed denim jeans. For shirts he chose button-down collared shirts, and short sleeved polo’s in green, blue, and beige, plus t-shirts. When it came to sho
es he found a pair of brightly colored sport shoes and black leather loafers.

  On a rack of more expensive items Nick selected a well-constructed black leather jacket that was soft as butter. When Violet saw the price tag, she was grateful for the windfall Nick had collected from the park. When they’d finished counting the money, there was over twenty thousand dollars in small bills to work with, easily enough to handle her bills for a long while, as well as outfit him.

  If Nick were going to stay, as he’d implied he might, he’d need clothes and Violet couldn’t deny him anything he might want.

  Once outer clothing had been covered, socks and underwear followed, Nick leaning toward the bikini style jockey shorts in bright colors. When she asked why that style of underwear, he pointed out that he’d watched her examining the merchandise.

  “You spent more time admiring the pictures of the men wearing these. If that’s what you want to see when I take off my clothes then that’s what I’ll wear.”

  Violet began to feel like it was Christmas and Valentine’s Day all rolled into one. With Nick’s selections of underwear, she got the candy and could enjoy the bright wrapping it came in as well.

  Finally they ended up near men’s robes, and Violet watched as Nick selected a robe not unlike hers, bigger of course, and in a dark green. He smiled as he felt its weight and the softness of the terry cloth. “This will do very well.”

  The bill came to several hundred dollars, but Violet paid it from the tree-fund. The old bills drew no comment at all nor did the fact they paid with cash. Nick pushed the cart to the car and loaded the bags into the back. He was so excited about his new clothes it was all she could do to keep him from changing in the parking lot. As it was, he wore the new jacket and sport shoes home.

  A message waited on her answering machine when they came in through the door.

  “Ms. Smith…this is Dr. Howard at the Museum of Classical History. We had a cancellation and I was wondering if we could move your appointment up? To eleven-thirty?” There was a brief hesitation. “We really want to speak to you as soon as possible.”