The Angel of Black Friday

by Shawn Keys

  The appeal on behalf of another nudged Wanda over the edge. She pulled up her tablet and flickered through a few screens. She had to enter a password, probably slipping into an ‘employee only, don’t show the customers’ area for hidden reservations. The tablet returned a happy little ‘ping!’. A greedy glint came to Wanda’s eye. “There’s one back there.” She took a few calming breaths. She wanted access to Sally North’s reduced catalogue. “Give me five minutes, dearie. I’ll be right back.” She shuffled away with purpose.

  Elenia appeared at his elbow. “What was that all ab…” She faded off as she caught sight of the sign. A soft sob slipped past her lips. “Oh no!”

  Rick tried to sound confident. He leaned in to her ear for privacy, not wanting to let any of the other shoppers hear about the shady deal going on. “I might have found one. Give it a second, alright? Wanda… see the saleswoman there?... she might be able to make some magic happen.” It was pleasant being that close to her as well, breathing in her fresh, light scent of vanilla and honey.

  Elenia’s face brightened with hope, banishing her rising grief. “How’d you manage that?”

  He shrugged, then gave a casual smile. “What proper magician gives away his tricks?”

  She gave him a pouty, playfully-annoyed look. “If I knew you better, I’d punch you right in the arm.”

  He stroked a hand over his well-shaped arm, not blocky but made of lean, corded muscles he had worked hard to develop. “Oh, I can take it.” He grinned as he flirted right back at her.

  Her pout changed toward more of a charmed smile. Her eyes glossed over his arm, and then the rest of him. She lingered in all the right spots, showing her approval. “I’d bet you could.” Her humor floated back into sincerity. “I don’t know how I’ll ever thank you if this…” Her eyes widened suddenly. “Oh my goodness, I forgot! You were heading for sporting goods!”

  Rick tried to pass off his worry. “Things happen. No need to worry.”

  “No! We need to go!” She grabbed hold of his hand and led him off through the store.

  Figuring they had a few minutes for Wanda to make her deal, Rick went with her. They didn’t waste time. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long. Unlike the food processor, Rick’s golf emulator was a large package of four different boxes strapped together. The absence of three of them made a huge, gaping hole on the shelves.

  Rick could actually see the last of the IAGEE6s being wheeled down the aisle toward the cash check-out by a random guy. Well, that hurts, he grimaced inside. He forced himself to look away and back to Elenia. He imagined the smile he was going to see on those sexy lips of hers. He didn’t care what his friends had said the night before. This was the day after Thanksgiving, damnit. He was going to see this good deed through to the end. “Let’s get back before Wanda wonders where we got to.”

  Her sympathy was painted on her face. “I’m so sorry, Rick. I never even thought to ask what you were looking for. I didn’t realize what kind of money you were laying down.”

  He chuckled. “Maybe this is a sign I shouldn’t be wasting it.” Taking a risk, he placed a kind hand on her shoulder. “This was a lark for me. Sure, I wanted it, but it wasn’t going to change my life.” He smiled encouragingly to her. “Yours can do that. So, let’s go get it.”

  They retreated their steps and showed up just in time. Wanda was looking left and right, hovering with a shopping cart next to her. There was a bulky cube-shaped object in it, already concealed in a shopping bag. The saleswoman waved them over hurriedly. “Get over here! What are you doing? This isn’t on the up-and-up! I’m going to check you out right here, and you are going to wheel this right out of the store without talking to anyone except the door-guy checking receipts. Hear me?”

  Both Rick and Elenia nodded. Rick added a question, “Who am I phoning in my gift for?”

  Wanda’s grin threatened to swallow her. “Make the call. I want one of those gold bracelets with the sapphires your store is advertising.”

  Rick chuckled. “Fine choice. Everyone in the jewelry department is calling it the great blue giveaway. Don’t know why they picked sapphires this year, but they’re going for cost prices.” He opened his phone’s screen and fired off a quick text to Brent, one of his co-workers over in sales. They weren’t quite friends, but he was trustworthy enough to set one of those aside. “Done. He’s got your name as the one who’ll pick it up later.”

  Wanda clapped in a burst of giddy enthusiasm before fighting herself back into her dour exterior. “Ahem. I mean, great. Thank you. Good deal.” She led them over to a customer service table and used her pricing gun, reaching into the bag and beeping the bar-code. A swipe of Elenia’s credit card later, and they were soon making for the door like a couple criminals escaping the scene. They waved the receipt at the door guard and were into the parking lot seconds later.

  Laughing in helpless delight, Elenia was spinning circles and not caring at all that she was skipping across the parking lot in her socks. She danced up to her SUV, beeped off the alarm, and popped the trunk. “You are incredible! I can’t believe this is happening!”

  Lifting the machine into the back, Rick closed the trunk firmly as if to drive home the point: yes, this is all real. “There was no other choice, Elenia. Had to be done. I couldn’t let your chance at this show get ruined because some factory robot couldn’t glue that boot properly. That would… well, it wasn’t right.”

  She grew a wonderfully enchanted smile. “You’re a good man, Rick.” They met each other’s eyes, and Rick swore he saw some sort of thoughtful gears turning inside her head, as if she was rapidly coming to an important decision. Whatever it was clicked into place. She asked, “Did you drive here?”

  He nodded, then pointed toward the far-off exit. “Couple minute walk.”

  She nodded. “Hop in. I’ll give you a ride over. Do you need to get to work?”

  He checked his watch. “It’s a half-hour drive, so no rush. But thanks, I’ll take the ride.” In reality, he wasn’t in any hurry to leave her. She was lovely, had a sultry laugh he could listen to all day, and the hint of her perfume was soothing and provocative all at once. He could hear his friends in his head, demanding that he find a way… any way… to make a move and ask for her number. If he walked away with nothing, they might kill him when he told them the story later.

  Rick chuckled inside. And they might be justified in doing it. I really should do something!

  Elenia slipped in through the driver’s door, waited for him to climb in on the passenger’s side, and carefully backed out of the parking space. “Which one?”

  Rick gestured out the window, “See the dark blue sedan?”

  “The one with the happy face bumper sticker?” She was grinning again.

  “That’s… explainable.”

  “Uh huh. I’m not judging.” She flashed him an oddly kind smile. “Sort of suits you, actually.” The space next to Rick’s car was empty, being right up against the outer fence. She pulled in with a smooth turn of the wheel.

  Rick started to object lightly, “No need. I can just hop out.”

  Elenia shoved the selector into “park” and killed the engine. She turned a little toward him. The look in her eyes threatened to steam up the windows.

  Rick swallowed past a suddenly dry throat. What is she doing?

  “Rick…” Her voice had dropped a whole octave, and his name sounded like silk on her tongue. She edged closer in her seat, and her further hand reached across to rest boldly on the noticeable bulge in his black dress pants. Her hand only rested there at first, warm and coaxing. She met his eyes in a way that could melt steel. “I think I’ve decided on how I can thank you.”

  A hundred ways to gracefully decline flickered through his mind. Every single one of them died before they could reach his mouth. Instead, his hands clenched on the leather seats, and his manhood surged a little stronger under her touch.

  Elenia felt him swell. Her soft smile emerged again. “I take that as
approval.” Her hand curled inward, no longer just resting above the fabric. She was squeezing him deliberately, stroking up and down slowly but firmly. Pivoting toward him, she leaned in, presenting a sinful view down her dress to the beautiful mounds of her breasts threatening to spill out. It was no mistake. She knew what she was showing him, teasing him until his shaft was uncomfortable inside his pants.

  It was working. Rick groaned, drinking in the sight of her prowling toward him. Watching her delicately struggle in the confined space made it all the sexier; her lithe frame had the flexibility to ease around the steering wheel and center panel, but it was no simple task. But she was willing to make the sacrifice to get closer to him.

  Her stroking paused, but only to give her fingers the chance to pinch hold of his zipper and draw it down with its telltale, rippling buzz. Slipping inward, the pressure of her fingers flicked open the button so she was free to flip open the two sides. Fishing through the gap in his linen underwear, she wrapped her cool hand around his length.

  Rick moaned and sank back into the seat as she gave him a couple experimental squeezes, then dragged his whole cock out into the open air. Liberated from its confinement, his heavy phallus finally had room to expand to its full, mouth-watering size. Rick felt a small thrill as he watched Elenia’s mouth open in erotically-charged surprise. A small, delighted gasp escaped her. It was the sort of subtle, unrehearsed, totally honest compliment that could keep a man hard for hours.

  Then Elenia started to lean forward even further, her intent made clear by the eager fire in her dark eyes.

  Rick was conflicted in the best of ways. He watched as her perfect, plush lips stretched a little wider. It was perhaps the most erotic vision he’d ever seen in his whole life. The only tragedy was losing sight of those pouty, lovely lips as she bent her head into his lap.

  But the reward…

  Was so, so worth it.

  He felt those lips connect with the throbbing, mushroom-shape of his glans. He felt them strain around him, stretching a little more to take him onto her tongue. Her lips sealed around the bulbous tip, suckling sweetly as her tongue ran in spirals around every inch of the flesh she had consumed. She lavished attention on him there, while her hand continued to rub long, encouraging strokes up and down his length.

  Once sure he was at full mast, her hand dipped lower and ran her fingernails over his exposed testicles in delicious, tingling little scratches that woke up nerve endings he wasn’t even sure he knew were there. With her hand out of the way, her mouth was free to descend. Syrupy wetness coated his shaft as she struggled her way down, pushing his spear deeper toward the back of her mouth. When she pressed up against her gag reflex, she choked softly, then relaxed into him and let him slide into the constriction of her throat.

  Rick placed his head back against the chair’s head-rest, going insane from the tight feel of her neck muscles milking him. Their position in the parking lot made it extremely unlikely anyone would walk past close enough to see through the tinted windows. That didn’t make the illicit, open-air venue any less wicked. Her bobbing head was below the dashboard, but that was such fragile protection against someone who might see!

  Her tongue continued to bathe him with sweet attention as she bobbed up and down on him. He both felt and heard the succulent sound of suction forming and breaking around his shaft as she worked him in and out of her throat. Her lips were a ring of suckling pressure that threatened to send him soaring over the edge far faster than he wanted.

  Elenia came to a pause with him buried in the wet heat of her mouth. Rick got the distinct impression she was waiting for something. One of his hands drifted into her hair, massaging along her scalp and sampling her reaction. She gave back a soft, encouraging moan. She lifted her head into his hand, as if nuzzling it a little. Then, she bobbed a couple more times, emitting wonderful slurps that echoed in the confined air of the car.

  Then she slowed again, pausing. Again, waiting. Encouraging?

  Rick’s hand gripped strands of her dark hair between his fingers, clenching a little and tugging against her scalp. Her moans grew louder and more brazen.

  Beginning to understand, Rick experimented by pulling up, pulling her hair hard enough that it was sure to cause fiery tingles along her scalp. She moved with the silent demand, lifting as high as she guided her. Then, his palm settled more weight on the back of her head and compelled her downward. She sank willingly, and her fingers on his balls cupped them with a warm passion as she surrendered control to him.

  At first, Rick only pushed her down as far as she had gone before, then drew her back up in a steady rhythm that had him dripping with her saliva, pulsing with the need to explode. Small bursts of his pre-cum painted her palette. Elenia lapped up the salty morsels with quick flashes of her tongue.

  He started to get more desperate and instinctively crammed a little more of his cock into her throat. Elenia choked a little harder, but rather than fight him off, she embraced the struggle as tears streamed down her cheeks. She let out muffled murmurs and moans of raw lust at the rough treatment.

  Taking the cue, Rick bobbed her head again, then forced her deep… and then held her there, giving time to feel the half-frantic clutching of her throat around the upper half of his phallus while the rest dwelled in the wet heaven of her mouth. Her lips were wrapped around his base, still sucking at him feverishly.

  He couldn’t take anymore. He growled in a low promise, “I’m… cumming… oh, damn, I’m…” His hands made to pull her off as he spoke the warning.

  But instead, she snatched a hold of his hips and clung to him. Taking the pain of his pulling on her hair, she remained locked around his cock while it spasmed in her mouth. Her sucking only grew more insistent and glorious.

  Giving up, Rick let the orgasm flood his senses. His balls tightened and his whole length pumped his hot juices into her mouth. She swallowed reflexively, which only served to draw on him more and more. His climax lasted for what seemed like hours as she drank him dry.

  Inevitably, the heaven of his release collapsed in on itself. He could breathe again, and he did so with ragged gasps. His hands unclenched from the leather seat and her hair as he struggled to come back to the real world.

  Elenia was in no rush for the end. She remained in his lap, purring softly and licking him clean as if worried that a single drop would escape. Her tongue washed his whole phallus. She delivered a final kiss to the tip with a cute little giggle as his still-hard shaft jumped as if trying to capture her and not let her go. Then, with care and no lack of fond stroking, she tucked him back into his pants and resealed him inside despite the throbbing protests of his phallus that obviously didn’t know when to quit.

  Drawing back toward her own seat, Elenia tugged her dress back into order. She plucked a handkerchief from the central storage box to dab and wipe away the signs of her effort. She didn’t quite meet his eyes, wearing a nervous, shy smile as if scared of some sort of judgement from him.

  Swallowing again, struggling to remember how to speak, Rick whispered, “That was the best thing that’s ever happened to me!”

  The statement sounded both heart-felt, yet enough like funny exaggeration to break the ice in the aftermath. She wiped her lips once last time and gave a gentle laugh. “Oh, I hope not, for your sake!”

  Rick chuckled, but said with sincerity, “I have no idea what else to call it. That was incredible. I… don’t know what else to say.”

  Elenia put a warm hand on his arm. “No promises. No questions. Maybe it’s the wicked in me today, but… I want it to be this simple. Alright? You helped me. And that’s how much it meant to me. Can it be that? I want it to be that simple. That perfect. That’s how I want to remember you.”

  Rick sighed, guessing that meant her phone number was out of the question. “If that’s what you want. Can I kiss you goodbye?”

  Her eyes crinkled with a smile, and she leaned in toward him. “That would make it perfect.”

  He mirrored
her, touching those pouty, plush lips with his own. They lingered there, sharing the soft kiss and adding a few gentle licks with their tongues before finally separating. He let out a long, satisfied breath, and offered a wry smile. “Yes, no doubt about it. Best thing ever.”

  She gave another of those sultry laughs, her hands fondling her own breasts through her dress as if re-thinking the whole ‘leave it here’ idea. But she didn’t offer more, nor ask him to stay.

  Now. End on the high note! He clicked the door open, favored her with one last smile, then slipped out into the rising sun’s mild heat that was finally beating back the autumn air chill. He stood on the grass by the fence as Elenia backed her SUV out of the space, turned, and pulled away with a final wave.

  He stood there a long moment, trying to decide if that had really happened.

  In the end, it didn’t matter. If it was fantasy, then it was firmly locked in his brain and he wasn’t letting it go.

  You have to work, remember?

  He frowned. He never knew what side his brain was on. It was willing to save that perfect memory, then betray him with the next thought that came along.

  Sighing, he goaded himself into action. Only three hours of work. Then, the rest of the day off for golf. But first… I have to not kill myself driving while I replay what just happened over and over again.

  Chapter 3:

  To Catch a Thief

  Rick was staring at a blinking green light on the internet hub he was resetting. He realized he had been staring at it for some time. It was blinking at the same pace as Elenia’s head had been bobbing up and down on him at one point…

  He forcefully closed his eyes. Alright, enough of that.

  Now…

  Where was I again? If I keep having to start over, this is going to take forever. He opened his eyes and did his best to shut out that sexually insidious memory for a little while.

  He was tucked under the cabinets beneath one of the cash registers of Sally North, tracing a data loss fault that was preventing the register from communicating with the central servers. So far, it was being stubborn, refusing to see anything but its own internal workings. Playing one last hunch, he dumped the other local register at the same sales point into local control, then swapped out their cables to the servers and rebooted the connections to see what would happen.