THE STRAGGLERS PROTECT

by Misha Anderson

  I went towards Kay, asking anxiously:

  “And what can I do to disguise it?”

  “Strong perfume can mask it, but for a short time, Sam, specially because your belly will show. Adam is coming, we better stop talking.”

  Adam comes to the living room smiling at me.

  “Aren’t you hungry, little bunny?”

  “Yes, very. Let’s have dinner?”

  I poured a can of baked beans in a pot and heat it, put some spices on it, then I fried some steaks, leaving them rare, and put it on my plate with salad and mashed potatoes. Adam was looking at my plate curiously, laughing right after.

  “What is up with you eating rare steaks? You always liked your meat almost toasted.”

  “I don’t know, it seems juicer this way, is it true that Hunter made dessert? I love chocolate mousse.”

  After dinner, I served a bit of chocolate mousse to the boys and sat on the couch with the rest of the platter.

  They laughed, Kay and I looked at each other. He certainly must have noticed my exaggerated apetite. I keep eating the mousse straight out of the platter and when it’s over, I look sad at the empty platter.

  Hunter gets the platter from my hands and says that tomorrow he’ll make more dessert for me.

  “Don’t worry, Sam, I’ll make it more tomorrow.”

  “Thanks, Hunt.”

  I waited Damy sleep and did the drug store test, I compared the result with the information at the box, with tremble hands. I murmured in a low voice holding the result in my hand, alone in the bathroom.

  “Yep. Kay is really a great tracker, it is POSITIVE.”

  The week went by flying, every day to disguise my smell I put on body lotion with apple scent.

  Kay looks at me sometimes like: “if you don’t tell, I will”, but I know he won’t betray my trust.

  The town is full, today is the city birthday party, a civic parade will take place and then a huge kermess from Portland Catholic Church.

  Father Cedric is busy with the details.

  Every inhabitant in Portland helped in a way, John, my boss, is giving out 20 dollar vouchers, Hunter’s bar has a food stand and will raffle four drinks, a steak a la Hunter and 3 jukebox coins.

  One of the high points of the party is the raffle of a Day Use at the ranch where Kay works.

  I’ll help Hunter to sell beer and portions of steak and french fries a la Sickle. I go by Hunter’s stand and say that I’ll just talk to Connie and be right back.

  CONNOR VAUGH

  The kermess is very lively, I enjoy the day off, something rare in my life, to catch up with my friends.

  I’m having a Budweiser with Jared and Andrew, my friends from work.

  “Don’t you miss vacations, Lieutenant Vaugh? It will be almost two years since you’ve taken a vacation.”

  “Ja... Jared, call m... me by m... m... my nam... name, yo... you’r... you’re m... m... my friend an... and we ar... are off, m..., man.”

  A group of small children ask to take pictures with me and a little girl of about five, asks me to borrow my helmet that’s on the stand on the firefighter battalion, for a picture.

  “Uncle, can you give it to me?”

  “Ju... just f... for the pic... picture, pr... princess.”

  One of the mothers takes a picture of the children and I ask the pretty little girl’s name who’s posing by my side with the fireman helmet.

  “Wha... what’s yo... your n... name, pr... princess?”

  “Pietra.”

  “Pr... pretty n... name, Pi... Pietra.”

  An olive skin complexion, curly light brown hair, I’m thinking that if Jessica hadn’t passed away, my child would probably be the same age this pretty little girl. She had a cat she offered me to hold it.

  “Do you want to hold Flit? He’s pretty, isn’t? It’s my kitty, my friend.”

  “I th... think he d... didn’t li... li... like me ve... very m... much.”

  Pietra doesn’t know, but felines normally don’t like to get near me, I think it may be because of the wolf that lives in me.

  The country music concerts are fantastic, three women are chatting animatedly, some children play around them, one of the women calls out my attention.

  Wow! What a beautiful woman, I never saw her here in Portland, she must be new in town. Olive skin and short with an enlarged shape, large breasts, wide and round hips and a large turned up ass. She’s full of curves, I stop to chat with my friends, watching her movements and thinking how soft she must be.

  She’s wearing a floral dress right above her knees, letting it show her well shaped legs and a good chunk of her thick thighs, cowgirl boots, dark hair lose falling on her back and the skin tanned by the sun. Certainly she hasn’t been living here long, I would her forget a woman like this.

  The little girl who asked for my helmet, Pietra, goes to her arms. I watch them both and notice similarities, they are definitely mother and daughter.

  The announcer announces the draw of the day’s prize to get to know the battalion.

  “And now we’ll have the most amazing draw for a day in the firefighter battalion of Portland, you’ll get to know the building, the downtown center, the battalion trucks and have lunch with these brave man. And the number is 37.”

  The tasty brunette smiles and raises her hand showing the drawn number, Pietra jumps in joy when she realizes her mother is the prize winner.

  “Hurray! Yippee mom. We’re going to meet the firefighters.”

  She smiles with such a jovial air and our eyes meet, I raise the Budweiser to greet her and she nods, giving me a smile that lights a thousand blocks.

  Beautiful, full of life, her smile disarms me completely!

  The rest of the night it was so good that went by really quick, I’m at Hunter’s booth giving a hand with the drinks, when the pretty brunette come towards me worried.

  “Good night, sir, you are a fireman, aren’t you?”

  “I... am, wh... why?”

  She points to a area near by the kermess and trips on the words crying nervously.

  “I went to the restroom and when I returned, Tara let the girl play by the parking lot, she said Flit escaped and went up the tree. And Pietra climbed the tree, but now she can’t come down, for the love of God, please help me to get my daughter, please, mister.”

  “Sur... sure, let... let’s go.”

  I took of the apron and ran towards the area near he parking lot, I don’t know how the girl climbed so high after the cat, but the thing is that if she falls from there, she’s going to hurt herself bad.

  The woman talks to a parking lot valet and comes back carries a medium ladder, saying:

  “I think that if maybe I climb the ladder I can at least get Pietra.”

  And she starts to climb the ladder and I’m right behind her, shitty stubborn woman, I didn’t say I was going to help? Damn it! She is on a branch, but can’t go on.

  I can’t not look, only if I were blind, her large ass is all visible because of the size of her dress and I swallow hypnotized by those two round turned up globes, tanned and good to bite... and between those soft cheeks, rests a little red tong, all buried, fuck!!! That’s not fair, I try to close my eyes, but if I close them, there’s no way of getting the girl nor the cat.

  Then it’s only left me to look at her thick thighs and that fleshy, huge ass, good to slap around... Fuuuck! I need to control myself, what kind of perverted guy rescues a little child with the cock as hard as steel, because of the child’s mother’s ass? She speaks embarrassed, making me even more annoyed by the effect her soft voice causes me.

  “I can’t go up anymore, I shouldn’t have tried to come up.”

  “N... now yo... you’ll have to... to let m... me go thr... through..., o... otherwise... I can... can’t get your dau... daughter.”

  She turns to the side and I’m able to go up another branch, but is too narrow, then I’m face to face with her, our bodies couldn’t be nearer each oth
er, ah! How embarrassing, she’ll notice I got excited, I throw my arm on her waist and she looks away and looks at the bulge on my pants, stuck to her belly. I look away wanting to put my face on a donkey’s asshole, so embarrassed am I.

  “And... she’s n... not so far, ju... just a few m... more bran... branches an... and I’ll be ab... able to get her.”

  The woman yells at her daughter, still nervous:

  “Pipi, just stay quiet the fireman will get you, grab yourself to one of the branches carefully, daughter.”

  “Mother, but there’s Flit?”

  “Pietra, first he needs to get you out of there, then we’ll see how to get Flit.”

  I went up a few more branches and got a splinter in my hand, my palm is bleeding, but I’m able to get Pietra and then Flit, who’s growling at me when I grab him.

  “Ther... there you go, I... I got y... you two, g... get on m... my lap, I w... won’t let y... you fall, Pi... Pipi.”

  The woman climbed down the tree with some difficulty and then I got down with Pietra and Flit, purring happy.

  The cat from hell that cause all this trouble.

  Pietra hugs her mother and the woman kisses the child’s hair, putting her back on the ground. She looks my bloody hand and tells me shyly:

  “Thank you for everything, I asked you for help and didn’t even introduced myself, nice to meet you, I’m Luna Agnelli and this naughty girl is my daughter Pietra.”

  “Th... the plea... pleasure i... is all m... mine, Co... Connor Vaugh.”

  Jared comes running towards me.

  “Lieutenant Vaugh, I didn’t know you were rescuing some one or I would have come to help you.”

  I slap him on the shoulder with my uninjured hand.

  “I... it’s al... alright, it wa... was quick, Jared.”

  Luna holds my injured hand and sighs upset.

  “If it wasn’t for this cat you wouldn’t have gotten hurt, stay here I’ll get the first aid kit I’ve got in my car.”

  I remained with Pietra and after a few minutes Luna came with a little first aid kit.

  She and I sat on a concrete bench and she put my hand on her leg, with the palm up. Ah! Just thinking about that tiny red tong I’m aroused again, I try to put the other hand on my lap to disguise my erection that’s starting to show up and is humiliating the embarrassing the way she looks at my penis, bitting the lower lip.

  Luna cuts some strips of sticky plaster, removes the wood splinter that’s buried in my flesh and cleans the place with alcohol, covering with gauze and sticky plaster. As soon as she finishes, I smile thanking her kindness.

  “Tha... thank you, Lu... Luna.”

  Oh! God, I can’t explain in a rational way, but his stutter is surprisingly charming. It’s cute, I think he’s a beautiful model of a man in front of me, because he’s a tall, strong guy, he should be scary, but his needy boy face is the counter point of his masculine body, viril. He has a sweet and warm look that envelopes you like a comfortable hug and there’s been so long that I don’t know what is to be warm in body and soul.

  I let his hand go that I was holding like an idiot and get up clumsily, thanking him for rescuing Pietra and Flit:

  “If it weren’t for you Connor, I wouldn’t know what to do to rescue my daughter, thank you very much.”

  Pietra gets on Connor’s lap and kiss his cheek, rabbiting on:

  “Thanks, uncle.”

  I say getting Pietra out of Connor’s lap:

  “Mom and you won a visit to the fire department, when we’re there, we may meet Connor again.”

  He gets my hand talking a long time to let it go.

  “Wh... when yo... you get to th... the fire depart... department, lo...look for Lieu... Lieutenant Vaugh.”

  We said good bye to each other and I go back to the party with Pietra, thanking heavens for our new life in Portland, completely different from that scary hell we lived in Virginia for a few months.

  KAYDEN VAUGH

  The damned party won’t end, I walk around the people and huff in anger, it’s a constant coming and going of euphoric teenagers, badly fucked married women, widows at danger, that I look around and everything I want the most is to be on the back of my precious, my Sky and get out of here.

  I’m not very good with human beings, people are a very strange animals that I’m terrified of living with.

  Fuck it if I seem crazy or weird, this is the truth, I prefer to deal with my horses than to have to deal with a bunch of unhappy vultures called “people”.

  My brothers tease me all the time saying that I’m a flirtatious guy, the ladies man among the Vaughs, but that’s not but a façade, downright lie, bullshit talk to pass time.

  I’m too fucking shy and the idea of approaching a girl that I’m into is already enough to get me out of my mind. I get stuck, totally, in an embarrassing way, like a stubborn mule, ah! So bizarre!!!

  And to compensate my difficulty in saying something interesting to seduce the girls, I go with my infallible tactic of always: I put on super confident cowboy face and go off to my “victim” like a wild buffalo, going over and dominating like I was “the man”, not this scrap of a man who bites his nails like an idiot when facing a woman.

  She’s talking to some friends and when she trows her head back I watch her with the corner of my eyes not to let it show too much that I’m into her.

  Fuck! It’s beautiful the way that she smiles, with all her body, so loose and unpretentiously.

  Even though she doesn’t want to, Natalie is the center of attention wherever she is.

  The girls around her stare at her admiring and I have to make sure I’m not drooling in front of her, the time she was in Ireland did her really good, definitely.

  She looks at me and turns away, disguising it. One of her friends whispers something in her ear and Nat bites the inside of her cheek, will they be talking about me?

  It may be, by the way the girls look at me, I must be the subject of the group talk, after all, even though they are the Barbie doll type of women in town, when it’s time to fuck, they prefer a guy that knocks them out of their senses, that would fuck them with no reserve, not these big city guys that barely know how to hold a tit in their hands.

  They’ll draw the raffle for ranch Walker now, three of her friends greet each other clapping their hands, they are anxious to win the Day - Use at the ranch, and I’m get annoyed thinking that I’ll have to babysit one of these Barbie dolls. One of the girls raise her arms celebrating and Natalie makes a face of few friends when the announcer announces that the Day - Use will also have a tour through the farm having me as a guide.

  Natalie’s friend comes towards me and she accompanies her making a face. The girl stops in front of me and I watch her, curious to know what she wants with me.

  “So, you are the guide to my Day - Use?”

  I’m not wasting my saliva answering her.

  “Uhum.”

  I’m focusing my attention in the compact package of woman in front of her. The long really black hair, the greenish eyes in contrast with the freckles on her cheeks, giving her a naughty look, instigating.

  Nat is even more beautiful, like that’s possible, than last spring.

  Geez! I’m like a hillbilly in heat starring at her this way.

  I have only three words hammering in my mind like a mantra:

  SHE’S FUCKING HOT.

  Natalie looks at me and looks away quickly, uneasy, bitting the lower corner of her lip.

  Her damn friend talks like an annoying bird, and I nod, agreeing with my head, without hearing a word of what she says.

  Natalie lifts the brim of my hat with her index finger, making me look at her, saying in an ironic tone:

  “And I thought daddy had lost his guard dog to the rodeos, you still work for old Walker?”

  “Yep, I work, why the question? Does my presence bothers you by any chance?”

  Of course it does and all because that damned drinking day that made me
kiss you, you stupid hillbilly. What the fuck! Why does he have to be like this, this hot? I close my eyes and I still can feel his miserable plump lips driving me mad, shaping itself on my mouth, testing my control, teasing me.

  Ah! Miserable son of a bitch, hell of a tasty mouth... How could that happen? I’m a well travelled woman, knowledgeable, how is it possible for me to get on all fours with a kiss, a miserable kiss, did he enjoy kissing me the same way I enjoyed kissing him?

  Damn it! I’m behaving like a stupid little girl that has never been kissed.

  Stop it, Nat, this is getting ugly, stop drooling over this “manure smasher”, he’ll never be the man for you.

  “Of course not and why would your presence bother me, Kayden, I barely remember you?”

  I cross my arms and hold in my laughter, making her even more annoyed.

  “For someone who doesn’t remember me, you haven’t forgotten my name after all these months, it’s good you haven’t forgotten me.”

  “Of course I, I...”

  I shortened our distance and the annoying bird left us alone, she has shut up, thank God.

  “Because I haven’t forgotten, I’m curious to know if your entire body had the same taste as your mouth.”

  Her cheeks became red, but even though she raises her face and gets closer, challenging me with her look.

  Ah! Girl, if we were alone, I would break that crest just with my cock.

  “And may I know what taste is that?”

  “Sin, Natalie, you taste like sin.”

  What was the moment I raised my hand to his chest and he wrapped my waist with his arm?

  His mouth brushes mine smoothly and I almost, almost feel the taste of his mouth, a delicious mix of menthol and rough male.

  Ouch! If I raise my face a bit more, his mouth will surely touch mine.

  I look around and my friends stare at me surprised, me, the cool, rich, stylish one... letting myself be seduced by this untamed idiot.

  “You speak bullshit, Kayden, I’m leaving, I have other things to do rather than to listen to your chat up lines from the middle of the road.”