Friends With Extra Benefits

by Luke Young

  Grinning, Jim kept working them with his hands.

  Caroline slumped her head back and closed her eyes, melting into complete relaxation.

  Reaching over to a towel on the edge of the tub, he slid his hand between the folds. Jim pulled out the diamond engagement ring he’d been holding on to for months. He glanced back to Caroline’s face to be sure she was still mesmerized by his foot massage and found she was. He grinned with her toe still held captive between his lips.

  He pulled his head back and then slipped the ring onto her second toe. While staring up at her face, he began planting gentle kisses on each of her exquisite toes. He rubbed her foot with both hands as he waited for her to notice the pear-shaped diamond ring.

  “Don’t stop,” she said.

  “That’s what you said before.”

  Caroline glanced up at him with a smile. “I know. We should definitely role play again.”

  He kept rubbing her foot with a silly look on his face as she continued to be oblivious to the ring. “That was fun.”

  “We should sleep naked tonight… want to?”

  “Sure.”

  Finally glancing at her toe, she spotted the ring. “What’s that?”

  “Caroline Ryan, will you marry me?”

  She shook her head with a grin. “Are you seriously asking me in the bathtub with the ring on my foot?”

  He nodded. “Stupid, huh? I was going to ask you at dinner, but I couldn’t wait.”

  After shrugging her shoulders, she smiled brightly with tears welling up on her face.

  He pulled the ring from her toe, gently placed her foot back into the water, and moved until he was kneeling next to her. “Let me do this right.” He stared into her eyes. “Caroline, I love you. I know that things won’t be easy with Victoria and the baby coming and everything, but I’m committed to making this work. I can’t stand to be away from you. From the moment that I met you, I’ve never been happier in my life.”

  She stared up at him with her lip quivering.

  Jim asked, “Will you marry me?”

  Caroline moved her hand to cover her mouth as Jim stared unblinkingly at her with the concern starting to show on his face. “Do I need to repeat the question?”

  “No.”

  “No, I don’t need to repeat the question or no, you don’t want to—”

  “Yes, I will marry you.”

  He smiled brightly. She held her left hand out to him, and he slipped the ring on her finger. Looking down at the sparkling diamond, she beamed. “It’s beautiful.”

  “I picked it out myself.”

  Caroline looked up at his face. “I love you.”

  “I love you.”

  She reached up, wrapped her hands around his neck and pulled him to her for a kiss. Pulling her lips from his, she said softly, “Why don’t we stay in and order room service instead of going out?”

  He nodded with a sexy smile as he moved his lips back to hers.

  22

  Back in Orlando, Carl sat in his lavish penthouse apartment in front of his large PC screen. After selecting a camera showing the pool area, he grinned when he spotted Rob and Bridget as they stood in the pool next to each other, enjoying a drink and talking.

  He clicked the mouse to move the camera and zoomed in on Bridget’s cleavage. He sighed a long, creepy sigh. Shaking his head while licking his lips, he reached down to pull at his zipper. His cell phone rang.

  “Fuck.” He groaned and zipped back up.

  Carl answered the call in a tired voice, “Yeah.”

  A voice on the other end began, “Mr. Rodgers, I have the information.”

  “Well, what is it?”

  “Her last name isn’t Foster, it’s Marshall. She’s with the F.B.I.”

  “Shit… what else do you have?”

  “We’ve got a guy inside. They’ve been building a case against you. He says they’re a few days from filing charges.”

  Carl hung up the phone. Grabbing a vial of cocaine off the desk, he opened it and took a quick hit.

  Bridget climbed out of the pool with Rob’s eyes glued to her ass as he followed her to the pool deck. She wore a tiny bikini, and Rob struggled to control his body’s inadvertent response to how amazing she looked in it. His case of blue balls was getting worse by the second and climbing dangerously near the highest threat level. No way could he ask her to join him in the steam room with the current problem brewing in his trunks. He’d surely be hard during the whole nude experience unless, of course, he could relieve the pressure at least twice beforehand.

  As he pondered how to slip away, she dried herself with a towel. Holding his towel over his groin, Rob stood there dripping wet. Bridget paused a moment and then asked, “How do you like working at Wealth Stone?”

  “The money’s good. It’s okay, I guess.” Rob’s eyes brightened with a memory. “You made quite an impression on Carl the night you stayed over.”

  “When?”

  “Carl said he found you wandering around after midnight and—”

  Bridget eyes widened, and she stammered, “Um, I couldn’t sleep so I went down to the gym.”

  “I would have gone down with you.”

  “I didn’t want to wake you up.”

  Rob paused, deciding if he should grill her on the subject some more. He thought better of it and then shrugged it off. “He wants us to have dinner with him one day next week.”

  “Okay. That sounds nice.”

  “We were going to try to do it tonight, but Carl had to go to Atlanta today.”

  Bridget glanced at him, concerned. “He’s in Atlanta today?”

  Rob gave her a look, so she tried to repair the damage. “So, he went to Atlanta. I love Atlanta… When’s he coming back?”

  “Tomorrow.”

  She exhaled as her mind raced.

  Rob continued, “I meant to tell you my mother’s trial starts tomorrow, so I need to head back to Miami pretty early in the morning. I’m not sure when I’ll be called to testify; I’ll be there for a few days.”

  “When are you coming back?” Bridget asked.

  “Maybe not until late next week.”

  She looked around nervously and mumbled under her breath.

  “Are you okay?” Rob asked.

  “I, uh… I think I just got my, you know.” Rob stared at her, confused, until Bridget glanced down at her stomach and then back to him.

  “Oh.”

  “Can I get your keys? I need to…”

  He handed over the keys.

  “Be right back.”

  Rob watched as she grabbed her cell phone and headed toward the building. He fell back into a lounge chair, adjusted his swim trunks, and let out a big sigh as he thought, Great, so she’s got her period. We’re definitely not going to do it tonight, and I can’t even stand up without getting wood.

  Bridget dialed a number. “Shit… answer your phone.”

  “This… Adams.”

  She heard the call breaking up.

  “Vince, can you hear me? Rodgers is in Atlanta today. We’ve got to move now.”

  “Can’t… West now.”

  “What? Hey, I can’t hear you.”

  Bridget moved closer to the door in an attempt to get better reception.

  “Marshall I’m… boat and—”

  She waited a moment and then said loudly, “Vince we need to go in tonight. Wednesday is a no go.”

  “I…”

  “What?”

  “… Key West and—”

  “You’re in Key West?”

  “Yes and—”

  “Vince… Vince.”

  The line went dead. After hitting redial, Bridget rubbed her head as she listened to the cellular network’s “cannot-reach-the-subscriber” message. She dialed once more, heard the same message, and then stood in the hall, staring at the phone as she pondered her options.

  She whispered to herself, “I can do this. It’s got to be done today.” She put on a confident grin as she
headed up to Rob’s apartment.

  Carl scrolled through security camera views inside the building until he located Bridget walking down the hall toward the party room. He watched as she stood in front of the door wearing only that tiny bikini and holding some kind of small black box. She punched in the code, glanced down either side of the corridor and then quickly slipped inside.

  Carl stood, grabbed the gun off the desk, and slipped it into the waistband of his pants before pulling his shirt over it.

  Inside the party room, Bridget made her way to the second locked door and pulled out the black box. After opening the box, she pulled out an earphone and secured it to her ear. Next, she pressed the box against the lock mechanism and began punching codes.

  Ninety seconds later, she smiled as the lock clicked open. She pulled the earphone from her ear just as the gun barrel pressed into her back.

  “Miss Marshall,” Carl said. Bridget held perfectly still. He added, “Can I help you find something?”

  When, after ten minutes, Bridget hadn’t returned, Rob walked into the building and went to his apartment. He found the door locked, and after knocking a few times, headed back down to the ground floor. After glancing out to the pool and not finding her, he went to the parking lot and found her car was still there. He headed back into the building.

  Rob spotted Carl coming out of the party room. Their eyes met for a moment, and Carl gave him an evil smile. “Are you looking for someone?”

  “You haven’t seen Bridget have you?”

  “She’s right in here.” Rob returned a tentative smile as Carl held the door open while staring at him casually.

  Rob paused a moment and then shook off his concern as he began walking toward the room.

  “She’s waiting for you,” Carl added.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be in Atlanta?”

  “The trip was cancelled.”

  Reaching the door, Rob gave Carl a confused look as he asked, “She’s in here?”

  Carl nodded, and Rob entered the room. Rob glanced around the room but didn’t see Bridget anywhere. As he began to turn back, Carl slammed the butt of the gun hard against the side of Rob’s head. He slumped to the floor.

  23

  Rob and Bridget lay on the floor of the large safe wearing only their bathing suits. Their hands were tied tightly behind their backs, and their ankles were also bound. She struggled with her ropes as Rob continued to lay unconscious. After thirty seconds, she gave up her fight and sighed.

  “Rob,” she called out, but there was no response.

  Bridget wiggled her way over to him and pushed her head against his shoulder. She called his name again, pushed into him once more and called again, “Rob, wake up!”

  He groaned as his eyes fought to open. He shook his head slowly, opened his mouth, and looked at her, bewildered. “What the hell happened?”

  “Carl dragged you in here.”

  “My… my fucking head hurts.” Struggling against the ropes, he gave her a puzzled look. “Why?”

  “Did he hit you with something?”

  “I don’t know… I.” Rob turned his head and grimaced in pain. “Shit… Why is this happening?”

  “Rob, I—”

  “Why the hell would he tie us up and—”

  “Look, I’m actually… I’m with the F.B.I.”

  “What?”

  “We’ve been building a case against Carl Rodgers for the last ten months.”

  Rob narrowed his eyes. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “He’s running some kind of ponzi scheme, and we been trying to gather enough evidence to arrest him.”

  “You’re with the F.B.I. So, you’ve been fucking lying to me this whole time?”

  “I had to.”

  He sneered, and Bridget returned a sorrowful look. “I wanted to tell you, but I couldn’t blow my cover or risk putting you in danger.”

  After staring at her a moment, he said slowly, “You mean, like the kinda danger I’m in right at this moment?”

  “I know. I’m sorry.”

  With her eyes wide open, she looked around the room at the stacks of shiny bars. “There must be, like, two hundred million dollars’ worth of gold in here.”

  “Five-hundred eighty-three million,” he said with some confidence.

  She gave him a curious look.

  He narrowed his eyes. “Or maybe it was 584 million.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I saw a spreadsheet on Carl’s computer a few days ago. I mean, it could be worth more or less now with gold prices fluctuating. Plus, he’s got another smaller stash at the office. All together, it’s a little over 800 million.”

  Bridget said, “We believe he accepted about six hundred million in investments. If he’s got that much, there’s enough here to pay the investors back their principal and more than his promised return. There’s probably still enough left over for the company to make a ton of money. I wonder why the hell he’s doing this?”

  “I’ll tell you why… He’s a crazy, coked up, sex-addicted, lunatic psycho… I mean, I like sex as much as the next guy, probably more, but he’s, uh… out of his fucking mind. And now I’m going to die surrounded by almost a billion in gold.”

  “I’ll get us out of here. I promise.”

  Bridget struggled with her ropes, and Rob did the same. After less than a minute, they gave up. She said, “Carl told me to have a good night… like maybe he isn’t coming back until morning. All we need to do is get untied, then—”

  “Then what? We just blink our way out of this safe or wait for him to find us sitting on the gold, then blow us away?”

  “Let’s just get free. We can worry about the next step after that.”

  Rob glared at her, “You know, I can’t believe you pretended that you liked me just so you could stake out the building. You could have told me what you were up to, and I would have agreed to help you.”

  “I was not authorized to tell you. There was a plan in place, and I couldn’t deviate from it.”

  “Great plan.”

  “It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. When you told me Carl was in Atlanta, I kind of went rogue or, I don’t know, I just…”

  “Great, I’m trapped in here with the freaking female John McClane.”

  “Who?”

  “Die Hard,” he shot back.

  She stared at him, confused.

  “Oh, just forget it.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Me, too.”

  Bridget paused. “Let’s move back-to-back; then I can try to untie your hands.” After sharing a nod, they both began shifting around until their backs were pressed against each other. They moved close and she went to work on his ropes. After two minutes of fruitless struggle, she realized she was getting nowhere.

  She said, “I can’t get it. Shit. Try to untie mine.”

  Rob went to work fumbling with her ropes. He kept at it for another minute then groaned. “This isn’t working.”

  They turned to look at each other, their faces only a few inches apart. She smiled at him. “I really began to like you. It… it started out as a case, but… I don’t know. I wanted to tell you. I just—”

  “Really?”

  “Yes. If we get out of here… I mean, when we get out of here, we should go on a real date.”

  “I’ll be unemployed, so I should have lots of free time,” Rob quipped.

  “I think I will, too,” she said, and they shared a grin. “Why don’t you try to use your teeth on my ropes? Maybe that’ll work.”

  Rob nodded. She twisted around as he moved lower. The string of her tiny bikini worked its way untied on one side as she turned. The fabric fell open, and half of her beautiful ass was staring him right in the face.

  “Uh, your bathing suit, it—”

  “Just focus on the ropes.”

  “Okay,” he said as his eyes locked on her adorably pale-white ass cheek with his cock quickly expanding in his swim trun
ks. Moving his mouth to her hands, he worked at getting the rope between his teeth. He tried and tried, but it was no use.

  She said, “Spit on the rope.”

  “What?”

  “I mean, spit on my wrist where the rope is, and maybe I can slide my hands through.”

  “Okay,” he replied unconvinced.

  After working up a nice batch of saliva in his mouth, Rob blew a huge wad unto her wrists. She cringed then broke into a chuckle. He did it again, and she began to squirm. Her bikini bottom had practically fallen all the way off now. He stared at her ass and the spectacular back view of all her parts with his swim trunks quickly crowding. He spit again, and this time she laughed out loud. He asked, “What the hell are you laughing at?”

  “It tickles, and it’s kind of gross. I can’t believe I’m asking you to spit on me. This is like bad porn or something.”

  Rob chuckled.

  She said, “Okay, now use your tongue to push it under the ropes.”

  “Push what?”

  “The spit!”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yes.”

  Moving in, he did as she asked, tasting the bitter nylon rope as he fought to work the saliva in really well. He finished the chore and then pulled back, spitting out rope fibers as he cringed. “Okay, give it a try now.”

  He moved back a little further, and she fought to pull her hands free. She struggled and struggled, thrashing around. Her bikini bottoms now fell completely off. He stared at her with his manhood sticking straight out and tenting his trunks impressively.

  “Fuck,” she cried as she gave up. She flipped over to look at him and her eyes immediately went to his huge erection. “Why the hell are you hard?”

  “Well, I’m down here staring right at your pussy and spitting into your wrists and then licking it. It was kind of hot in a totally bizarre way.”

  Bridget couldn’t take her eyes off his trunks. While parting her lips, she felt her pussy moisten as she said, “If we’re going to die like this, uh…” She glanced up at his face then back to his bulge. “… the least I can do is give you a blowjob.”

  Rob nodded in enthusiastic agreement as she flipped around until her face was in line with his trunks. She plunged her mouth on his bulge over the fabric of his trunks, and he stared down at her breathlessly. Her hips were only a foot from his face and his eyes quickly moved to her pussy. He stared at her lips, desperately wanting to taste her.