by Lauren Runow
Nichole leans up, putting her arm on mine and leaning her head on my shoulder. “Please let me help you. I’ll listen with you.” She turns around to pick up my phone from the nightstand and hands it to me.
I give her a grim stare then look down to my phone without grabbing it from her.
“Hey, you’re the one that started this whole thing. I just wanted to fuck. Now you have me caring what happens to you.”
I let out a quick laugh grabbing the phone from her. “So this is how you show me? Making me do something I don’t want to do?”
“No, I show you by letting you stay the night wrapped around me. This is just an added bonus,” she smiles.
I look down to my phone and power it on. “She hasn’t called in the last few days. Maybe she got what she needed from someone else.”
When my phone powers on completely there is a missed call from a 415 number that came in around two in the morning.
“Is that her?” Nichole asks as she looks over my shoulder at my phone.
“No, not sure who that is.”
I click the voicemail and put it on speakerphone so Nichole can hear as well.
“Hello. This message is for Paul Foust. This is San Francisco General Hospital. We have Beth Foust here and she says you are her emergency contact. Can you please give us a call back?”
“Fuck me.” I throw the phone down on the bed.
Nichole takes a sharp breath in, wrapping her arms around me tighter. “Are you going to call them back?”
“Fuck,” I look at her, “Do I have a choice?”
“I’m sorry Paul. Do you want me to call them back?”
“No,” I snap at her before looking back down to my phone and picking it back up.
“Are you going to listen to the other messages first?”
I take a deep breath and scroll to the first message she left on my phone, hitting play and leaving it on speakerphone.
Beth’s shaky voice plays over the speakerphone. “Paul, it’s your mother…” Long pause. “Can you call me sweetheart?”
My jaw tightens at the sound of her voice as I hit delete and play the next one.
“Paul son. I’d love to talk to you. Please call me back.”
Then the next.
“I could really use a phone call back, son.”
The next.
“Why aren’t you calling me back son? I am your mother…”
Next.
“Paul, I really need someth… I mean, I’d love to hear your voice. Please call me back.”
Next.
“Son. Don’t you love your mother anymore? Call me baby.”
My expression hardens as my mother’s voice grows in desperation. There are twelve more messages with every message getting a little more needy. The worst one came in at three in the morning a couple of weeks ago.
“Look baby. Mommy needs a, uh, um, you to call me back. Please baby. I’m begging.” Her voice is shaky and moving from high to low pitches.
The next morning she called again. “Hi son! Wow I love hearing your voice on your voicemail. You sound so sophisticated and manly. My boy all grown up. Look, sorry for the calls. I’m alllllll goooood noooow,” she says giggling into the phone. “Love you, baby.”
“Fuck. She’s high as a kite…” I grumble staring at my phone.
Nichole holds me tighter placing a small kiss on my cheek. I can’t bring myself to look at her but when she kissed me I felt the tightness in my chest loosen instantly.
I hit play to the next message that came in two days after the last one. Her voice is back to shaky and needy and the entire process starts over with her begging for me to call and each call getting worse until the call comes where I can tell she got her fix. In every call she plays the guilt card by calling me son and reminding me she is my mother.
Nichole wipes a tear that fell down her check and I turn to her. “No, please don’t cry. I don’t want you affected by this. I don’t want you crying over my problem.”
“Paul I’m sorry. I’m just in shock ok. I’ve never known anyone addicted to drugs. Just listening to these voicemails is really overwhelming and the thought of you having to deal with this all of your life is a little much for me to take in.”
I just shake my head looking down, “You have no idea.”
“Are you going to call the hospital back?”
I snap at her, “As I already said, do I have a fucking choice?”
Her eyes get big at my response and I look back down, running my fingers through my hair. “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t want anyone to know. Charlie doesn’t even know. I don’t want people to feel sorry for me.”
“I know…” she says as she gets up to give me space to make the phone call.
I put my feet on the ground and hunch over, placing my elbows on my knees, running my fingers through my hair and I hit the call button and hold it up to my ear.
“San Francisco General Hospital, how may I direct your call?”
“Hello, Beth Foust is a patient there. I have a missed phone call from someone saying they were trying to reach me.”
“Yes, I see she is a patient here. Let me transfer you to the nurse’s station. I see here that she can’t accept phone calls at this time.”
I look up in frustration, dropping my head back, “Thank you.”
The phone beeps a few times and someone answers, “Hello, is this Paul Foust?”
“Yes, I hear Beth is a patient there. What happened?”
“Yes sir. I’m afraid she’s in pretty bad shape. She was found in an alley beaten badly over in Hunters Point.”
“Fuck. Was she prostituting?”
“Sir, I’m not sure of the details. You’ll have to talk to the police about that. She’s heavily sedated due to the detox process. Before we had to sedate her she gave us your number as a contact person. Are you able to come in to help fill out paperwork?”
I sigh, running my hand over my face. “Fine, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
Nichole is standing at the door holding a glass of water. I turn to look at her as she sits down on the bed next to me handing me the glass. “Everything ok?”
“No. She’s in the hospital, pretty beat up and going through detox. They found her in an alley. My guess is she was prostituting again. Fuck, maybe I should have called her back. Maybe then she wouldn’t have sold herself to get high.”
“No, Paul. Don’t say that. You can’t support your mom’s drug habit. This is not your fault. She’s a grown woman who can make her own choices. By what you have said you already do enough for her.”
I look at her with pain in my eyes as I try to give her a smile. “Thanks, baby. I have to head to the hospital.”
I get up and Nichole grabs my hand stopping me. “Can I come?”
I shrug, “If you want to, I guess.”
We walk into the hospital hand-in-hand. After I fill out the necessary paperwork we’re shown to her room and stand at the door, not walking in. I shake my head then look down to Nichole’s hand ashamed. “Look, I’m not sure if you should come in. I don’t want to put you through this.”
“Stop Paul. I’m going in. Come on.” She pulls on my hand as she moves the curtain to reveal a frail woman lying on a hospital bed with a tube down her throat, her arm and leg are in a cast and her left eye is swollen to the size of a baseball all black and blue.
I stop and grip Nichole’s hand tighter as my breath catches. Nichole looks at me, wrapping her other hand around mine as she steps in front of me to look in my eyes. “You can do this.”
I look back to her, giving her a small nod as we walk further into the room. A nurse follows us in asking, “Are you family?”
“Yes, I’m… her son,” I look down to the floor. “Can you tell me what happened?”
“Well, she was found in an alley at Hunters Point around eleven last night. As you can tell she was beaten pretty badly. Looks like she is going to survive but she’s going through a massive detox so we had to sed
ate her because of her injuries. We don’t want to keep giving her morphine for pain when she’s detoxing so it’s best if we sedate her. Do you know what kind of drugs she uses?”
I shake my head as I clench my jaw tightly. “She should be clean. Dammit. Who knows with her? You name it she’s done it. I have no clue what her current drug of choice is.” I get up to walk out the door. “You have my number. There is no need for me to be here right now. If she wakes up give her this.” I pull a note from my back pocket and walk out of the room.
Nichole looks at the nurse who is just as stunned as she is I’m sure, then runs to catch up with me. “What was that note?”
I don’t stop to reply, just keep walking, determined to leave the hospital. Once I’m outside I finally reply, “Fuck her. I’m done. I told her if she doesn’t go to rehab, and stay in rehab this time I am cutting her off completely.”
“Paul…”
“Don’t do this Nichole. This is why I didn’t want you to know. I can only be pushed so far.” I look away ashamed. “Don’t think less of me, please. I’ve tried. I really have.”
Nichole stops me, holding my face in her hands, “Hey. Stop. This is not the Paul I know. Don’t look away from me. I know you’ve tried. I will never think less of you for having a mother like this. I’m blown away that you support her at all. Call me heartless but I would have kicked her to the curb years ago. Don’t beat yourself up over this.”
“Fine, can we just go?”
“Do you want to go back to my place and fuck like animals? Will that get your mind off of this mess? Cause that I can do, I’m good at that.” She lifts her eyebrows to me smiling her sexy smile.
I grab her ass, pulling her close to me, slamming her against my hard body. “I knew I was keeping you around for a reason. Hell yes that will make things better. You’re my type of girl you know that?”
“Well then let’s go big boy,” Nichole says over her shoulder as she walks toward my bike with a sexy grin on her face.
Before she puts on her helmet she reaches out and hugs me. That’s it. No smart ass comment. No kissing. No sexual innuendos. Just a simple hug but let me tell you, this hug is knocking me to my knees. I’ve never felt this small simple act before.
A hug, from a woman, who truly cares. It’s amazing.
I’ve sensed she’s starting to feel the same way about me as I am about her and this proves it.
Something special is definitely happening here.
We step inside my place with the air around us feeling different. I know she senses it too because she’s not acting like her ravage, sex kitten self. She’s definitely not being shy but not as nonchalant as before about us being together.
She walks toward me with a different look in her eyes and I’d be lying if I said my cock didn’t go from soft to rock hard real quick.
As she approaches I place my hand on her face whispering, “Thank you for going with me today.”
She leans her head into my hand, something she’s never done before, as her eyes close for just a brief moment. Then she opens them looking straight at me. She doesn’t reply but her kiss sure does.
My God this woman is unbelievable. I’m not sure what’s happening here but I definitely don’t want it to stop.
Our kiss is so slow and I swear I feel her body shiver with every pass of my tongue. I wrap my arms around her waist, lifting her slightly and walking toward my room, never breaking our kiss.
I lay her down, slowly lifting her shirt over her head before kissing down her neck to her breasts and stomach. Nothing is said but I feel it. She is officially mine and I’m going to love on every single inch of her.
She arches her back and hips, signaling me to remove her jeans and I’m her huckleberry, more than happy to oblige her command.
Even just the simple task of removing her jeans feels different now. Nothing is rushed. It’s like we both want to savior every second and make it last longer than the second before.
I pull off my own shirt, leaning between her legs, kissing up from her tight stomach to her soft lips. I rub my fingers on the outside of her thin lace panties as I capture her moan with my mouth.
So. Fucking. Good. My. God.
Her fingers reach to undo my belt and jeans so I pull back to remove them completely, along with her panties.
I stare at her, lying on my bed, in disbelief that I’m caring for the woman I’m about to make love to.
Whoa, wait, did I really just think that?
Fuck me, I did and I’m actually ok with it.
Nichole must have sensed my ah-ha moment because a small smile grew on her face as she reached up, placing her soft hand on my face and this time it’s my turn to lean into her simple touch.
“Nichole…”
“Shh,” she places her finger over my lips. “Don’t say anything.”
I lean in, kissing her again, placing the tip of my cock against her wet entrance.
“I want you Nichole.”
“Take me then.”
“No,” I say through kisses on her neck. “I want the entire experience. Something I’ve never done with any other woman.”
“I told you. Take me then. I want it, too. I’m on the pill.”
Oh. Fuck. Yes.
I thrust into her and I swear I see stars.
She feels so fucking amazing. I could blow my load any minute so I pull back, taking a deep breath before kissing her and slowing pushing back in.
We moan into each other’s mouth and I’m so glad to see she’s feeling it, too. The most incredible feeling I’ve ever had and she’s right underneath me feeling me the way I’m feeling her.
I never want this to stop. Here I just had the worst day of my life turn into the best day of my life. All because of Nichole.
The thought alone increases the intensity I’m feeling and I can’t get enough. Pumping into her, making her scream out my name before I kiss her hard, bringing her to her breaking point as she shatters around me.
I grunt my own release. Right inside her and it feels so amazing. So real. Like I’ve never wanted anything else.
She’s mine and I am hers.
It’s late but I can’t seem to break this case and it’s killing me. I’m at home looking over everything I have that is covering the entire length of my dining room table. Frustrated, I pick up the background checks I just ran on Diane Hayes, Jacquelyn Sanders and Charles Ashley.
I read:
Name: Diane Marie Hayes. Maiden name: Devine. Born: April 5, 1953 in San Francisco. Husband: Kevin Hayes. He’s an attorney. She’s a housewife. Lives in the Marina District in the City. They have two girls together, Nichole and Allison.
How did she meet Jacquelyn again?
I flip through my notepad. Oh, at the gym. Why did Jacquelyn belong to a gym in the City? I should check out this gym.
I write a note on my notepad.
Next I pick up Charlie’s background check. Name: Charles Thomas Ashley. Born: January 26, 1987 in Fairfield, California. Not married. No kids. He’s a customer service representative for Livingston, Inc. What is that again? I write in my notepad to look into the business he works for.
Next is Jacquelyn’s. Name: Jacquelyn Ann Sanders. Maiden name: Smith. Born: July 20, 1973. Not employed. Holds patent for green screen technology used in movies. Receives royalties from patent. Net worth: $50 million. Whoa. Damn. Ok, there’s a motive right there.
I put down the paper and tap my finger on the desk, looking over all the other evidence as my mind starts to wonder when my wife, Sandy, walks into the room.
“How’s it coming Sam?” Sandy asks while rubbing my back.
I sigh, “I got nothing. Obviously they’re hiding something but what?”
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out. You always do.”
I look over to my wife of 43 years with nothing but love. No matter how stressful my life gets with my job she’s always been my driving force.
She simply amazes me.
The way she
’s raised our four kids practically on her own. I mean, of course I was there but with my job I wasn’t the reliable one. She was. I missed birthdays, recitals or baseball games because I was called off to work another case. She offered our kids the stability we all needed and I love her more today than the day I married her.
“Did you hear the great news we got today?” she says smiling from ear to ear.
“No,” I look at my phone to see if I have a missed call or text and I notice I do, from my son, Nick. I shake my head, saddened that I’m so busy I miss important calls from my boy. “What’s the news?”
“Leah’s pregnant again,” she smiles as her eyes light up.
I smile in return. “That’s wonderful. How many grandkids will that make now?” I laugh, shaking my head.
She smiles as she proudly says, “Nine. Can you believe it?”
I sigh, smiling, “No, that’s amazing.” I grab her hand before leaning over to kiss her forehead as I get up from the table. “I have to go grab something from my car.”
“I’m going to shower then go to bed. Don’t stay up too late though, ok?”
I give her a hug, “I won’t hun. Goodnight.”
Halloween is coming up and Charlie and I, along with Nichole and Paul, plan on going to the annual Halloween party, Masquerotica, held at the Factory on Harrison Street, which is right around the corner from Charlie and Paul’s apartment. The event took over for the famous Exotic Erotic Ball after it ended its thirty-year run and the new event has held up to the vision of the original ball.
The costumes never disappoint, as everyone is dressed as creative and as sexual as they can be. Though nudity is not allowed, people push the limits with pasties and very sheer material. It’s a true San Francisco party in all its freak style.
We all meet at Paul’s place to do shots before we go.
I’m dressed as a sexy butterfly. My corset style outfit has blue and black feather wings sticking out from the front breast and hip portion sucking my waist in the middle. It’s a body suit that resembles a full-length bathing suit, leaving my legs bare except for the sheer, thigh-high black stockings. I choose long black gloves running up my arms to complete my outfit.