Continues from part four
Part Five
Tina got a call one afternoon from Shack. It wasn't super unusual but it was still a little odd: they normally talked after he had stopped for the night. She worried for a second until Shack quickly assured her everything was fine with him. He was in Ohio and on track and on time. But John and Carla had called him asking for her phone number or email. They had gotten an audit letter from the IRS and Monday after next they wer going to go over Shrewsbury's books. Carla and Julie could keep the fires out and manage the books but they weren't up to this. John and Carla were wondering about her availability and if she had ever gone through any of these before. They could get someone local but Tina already knew part of their system and they'd prefer her. They just needed to know if she was available and what her rates were.
If she could help they would fly her up there this weekend and Shack could meet her at the airport. Shack had said Tina could stay with him but they'd pay for a hotel if she preferred. She said she'd rather take the opportunity to make sure he was eating properly prepared food and with a laugh the subject was dropped. Shack unfortunately had scheduled runs that would take him out on the road for most of the weekdays but they'd have him back in town for the weekend and they could either fly her back or she could ride down with Shack when everything was done. He had a route that was taking her by her house anyway at the end of the second week. It'd be really great to get her up there for more than just a weekend. Could she do it?
She smiled and told him she'd check and that she'd try. The Tellers, the owners of the hardware store she worked for, were ok with that. She often did the books remotely so across town or across the country didn't matter. Cushman Shipping was ok: nothing was expected to be going on and if she'd please get things as caught up as possible before she left they'd call her if there were any problems and otherwise wished her well. Both knew about Shack and were happy for her. She called the Shrewsburys and said she'd be happy to. In fact she had gone through two audits with the shipping company she worked for and while it would be a lot of work to set up she expected their actual audit to be a snap. She confirmed things and made the reservations; she had to take care of some things here and could fly up on Sunday.
Shack was waiting for her right outside of security, roses in his hand. She smiled and blushed, kissed him and thanked him then suggested they stop and get something, fast food would be fine, on the way home. She expected it would be a long week and knew he’d be gone on the road for most of it. She wanted to (and she batted her eyes at him) get to bed early.
They did. At 9 AM the next morning Shack and Tina arrived at the trucking company. She to start work; he to mount up on his steed and head for Oklahoma. Shack was dressed for the road but Tina was in a smart white blouse, tight enough to show the curves so Shack remembered what was waiting for him back here, a slightly-less than knee-length pencil skirt and heels. Fully professional. John and Carla met them at the door and thanked her for coming. John had a scheduled call to attend with a customer but Carla could set Tina up in the office and if she needed anything just ask.
Carla showed her a desk in the back office that had been cleared out a bit and Tina dropped her laptop on to it. She walked with Shack out to the truck barn where his tractor was waiting. He did his walkaround and found nothing amiss. Diesel engine idling beside them they had a long kiss goodbye, Shack squeezing her bottom a bit which she did nothing to hinder. And then he climbed in, reminded her he'd be back Wednesday and told her he loved her which she returned. And asked her to take good care of his pickup truck. She smiled. Silly. Of course. She blew him a kiss as the rig slowly rolled out of the barn, into the yard and then out the gate. It was always such a lonely sound, hearing that engine fade away to nothing. Good thing she was going to be busy.
She sat down at the desk set aside for her. She still had, or maybe now had, knots in her stomach. Where was Julie? To her understanding Julie was the primary person for the company's accounting. Coupled with that when they had talked yesterday Shack had told her all about John and Carla and Tony and Tom and a few other people but Julie barely came up. Just a quick mention that she had the books all waiting and was happy to have Tina here. Tina wondered what to read into that.
She was working on the accounts receivable when Julie walked in. Tina hadn't been to the trucking company since their trip to Cheyenne Mountain and didn't know how this was going to go. If it went badly, well, she was the hired help and would just stay professional.
Julie up close had freckles, probably from her mother's side and was dressed in a purple company polo, jeans and cowboy boots. Still had the longish dishwater blonde hair and what looked to be a genuine smile on her face. She didn't have a tight body like Tina but didn't have any fat either. She walked up to Tina and extended her hand.
"Hi Tina! Good to finally meet you! Shack's told me a lot about you." She stopped for a second and then broke into a broader smile. "And yes, all of it has been good."
Julie looked over to the stack of papers Tina was working though. "Accounts receivable. Oh joy, my favorite." She laughed. "Mom helps, but mostly the credit and debit stuff is mine. As you know and can probably see this is not my strong point. So anything you want to suggest I'd be very happy to hear."
"It's actually in pretty good shape from what I've seen." Tina assured her. "I'm documenting it all up pretty like the auditors will want to see it but it looks fine so far."
Julie relaxed a little. "Good, glad to hear that. I need to audit the inventory but Mom has asked me to stick close so I can answer any questions you have." She grabbed a scrap piece of paper off the desk and wrote a phone number on it. "You can call me or just dial pound-7 on the phones and that will put you on the PA system and ask me to come by the office. Need anything so far?"
Tina confirmed she did not so Julie started for the door. Just before she went out, she stopped. "Hey Tina! Have plans for lunch? There's a deli about two miles away I like to go to and this seems like a good excuse. Want to go?"
Well, this was certainly nothing that Tina had been fearing and better than she had hoped. Maybe too good, she wondered, but she'd see. "I'd love to. Come by and get me when you want to go."
"Awesome! Thanks!" And Julie was gone.
Lunch was at a small deli with an airplane, a biplane motif, "The Bent Prop". It was similar to some of the delis Tina knew from home. The food was good and the portions not skimpy.
One thing that hit Tina is that she was overdressed. Everyone else was more like Julie, more Friday Business Casual than professional like she was. She decided to tone it down a little after today to merge in a little better.
The talk was casual too. Tina found Julie kind of contagious. She was a very blunt person, spoke her mind without apology and sometimes without much of a filter. Tina admired that. Julie seemed to be the classic country girl. Come to think of it there had been a cowboy hat on the hat rack near her desk back at the office. They compared favorite pet animals at one point. Tina's was a Border Collie; Julie's was an Appaloosa.
It was a different existence out here. Tina was a city girl and always had been. There was city here in Rapid City, but nothing like home. It was a nice change.
Julie did the books but her first love was geology. She was working as she could, which wasn't much with all the work at the trucking company, at getting a degree in it. There were plenty of places nearby where geologists were needed; she probably wouldn't even have to wander too far from home to find work.
Julie filled her in on how the company was put together. There was the management team, which was her and her mom and dad. They wore purple shirts. They ran two sorts of trucking: Short and long haul. They had four short-haul truckers, mostly around town or day trips and eight long-haul truckers, Shack among them. The drivers wore dark blue shirts; "we started with red ones but switched because they kept getting them irreparably oil stained," Julie confided. Some of the long-haul truckers owned their own tractors and some of them drove company rigs. They had a six-bay service area and Tony, who Julie understood Tina had already met and they had his friend Sam they could call if Tony was getting overloaded. They really only used two of the bays, they were just too swamped in the front office to ride herd on more than the 12 drivers they already had. Daddy had said more than once that he could probably keep three or four more long-haul drivers busy if they could keep the paperwork straight.
Julie filled her in on the other drivers. There was Tom, who Tina had met twice while she was up here: another long-haul trucker who also owned his own truck and was Walt’s, Shack’s, best friend. Around the shop they all had names for the different types of drivers. They called the ones who owned their own units, like Shack and Tom ‘riggers’, because they had their own rigs. The long-haul guys who drove company trucks were ‘company men’ and the short haul drivers were ‘locals’. Tom was out in New York right now and wouldn't be back until the middle of next week. Julie told her about the other drivers but mentioned one of the short-haul drivers, Phillip, who was a good man once you got to know him but was one hell of a flirt. Julie shook her head and said to just tell him she was Shack's girlfriend and he would likely leave skid marks at how fast he backed off. Yes, he was after anyone available with breasts - more so depending on how large their breasts were - but he did, beyond that, have a pretty decent moral code. He was a good person once you got him beyond that issue.
They finished off lunch and returned to Shrewsbury. Tina was finishing up with the Accounts Receivable. The accounting package they used was okay and industry standard for accounting but it wasn't really made for this sort of business and there were a lot of things that were like fitting round pegs into square holes. She could understand why it was so much trouble. Julie was at her own desk working with the current invoices and beside the country music softly playing from the overhead speaker it was quiet. Julie had come in with two of the purple polos. She expected the large polos Carla wore would be a bit loose and the mediums Julie wore would be a bit tight around the upper chest on Tina but with a smile she said she was sure Shack would appreciate that. Tina took the medium.
Around 3:30 a man in a dark blue shirt walked in. From the description Tina guessed this was Phillip. He caught sight of Tina and her skirt who had at that moment been walking back to her desk after asking Julie a question. He spied no wedding or engagement rings on Tina's hand. "Hello beautiful! Who are you?!" He said to Tina. She could hear the quiet groan from Julie but this was fine. He didn't bother her a bit. Actually, considering some of the hellos she had addressed to her in her life she considered it pretty pathetic. "Any plans for dinner?" he asked, then after a pause, "want to make some?"
She looked up from her desk at him dryly and rolled her eyes. "My name is Tina and before you ask I'm only here for a little while to review the books." She spun her finger around and flicked it away. "But nice approach. Now let's see how you roll out of here." As Tina looked back down to her laptop she could hear Julie stifling a giggle.
"No, seriously," Phillip came back, unfazed, “I could show you some interesting.... wait a minute. Tina. Shack Hartnell's Tina? The one he's chasing even though she's a thousand miles away?"
Tina nodded. "The one and only. Not that far away at the moment."
Phillip just gave a little shrug and smiled. "Well, now that I've met you it's easy to see why." His tone changed. "I am sorry; I didn't know who you were and I do apologize for earlier. Phillip Harrison, happy to meet you."
That changed the look on Tina's face to a smile. "Good to meet you too. But you came in here for a reason. How can we help you?"
"Actually, it was more a question for Julie, but thank you." He switched over to her with a question about a charge that he had made recently that Julie looked up and answered. Then he left.
Julie let out the laugh that she had been holding in. "That was pretty nice work. He won't be any problem any more. Nice handling of him though."
"It wasn't much of a problem. Besides, I have eight years of Krav Maga. I expect that even in this skirt and heels I could kick his ass all the way across the yard if he would keep standing up so I could do it." They both laughed and went back to work.
The Shrewsburys closed up around 6. The sun hadn't quite set and it was strange and empty driving Shack's truck home without him in it. The apartment was even worse. She reflected that every other time she had been here Shack had been here too. She'd never been here alone. She walked past the bedroom and looked in the door. That would be the worst part of it. That big wide bed with all those crazy wonderful memories so empty right now.
Dinner was just a sandwich; Tina didn’t feel like making an effort. Things perked up when Shack called, having stopped for the night. They chatted for about an hour, she told him about her day with Julie. After he directly asked she told him the story about Phillip and they both laughed. It was nice, very nice to hear his voice, a lung full of sweet oxygen when she was stuck underwater. It ended far too soon and she felt lost again as she tucked her cell phone back away.
Sleeping didn’t work too well, too many memories in that bed that were at the moments just echoes. This is life, she reflected. If Shack and she ever became permanent this is what it would be like. His job took him away for days at a time. The times together were wonderful, though she didn’t know if they made up for the gaps. But she shrugged. It was time to put on the big girl panties and act her age. The only time you got everything you wanted was in a fairy-tale and life was not that. Shack was good, devoted to her, loved her incredibly. Phillip was right about one thing: Shack had been chasing her when she was a thousand miles away and surely there were options much closer, maybe even here in Rapid City. It certainly didn’t seem to be Julie. Either there was nothing there or both Julie and Shack were two of the best actors she’d ever met. She shook her head, no, there was nothing there. From everything she could tell from him and now from Julie Shack had been completely truthful that first day they met on the freeway. Julie and Shack seemed more like brother and sister than ex-lovers. She rolled over in the dark in the bed, listened to the quiet noises of the world outside the apartment. She spent most of her life in her own bed at home alone, so why was this so different? But she knew why. Well, night after next she’d get it back. Until then, same pillow, different bed. Big girl panties.
The next morning she arrived dressed a bit more casual. She didn’t wear the polo Julie had given her; she was saving that for Wednesday when Shack could see it. Work was quiet and more of the same. Julie again invited her out to lunch, this time to a small hole-in-the-wall Italian place. Tina accepted on the condition that it would be her treat. Julie had no objections.
The place served bread with olive oil as an appetizer and Tina thought she was eating far too much of it. She really needed to start back her morning runs but she didn’t know the neighborhood around Shack’s place and had a little bit of concern. Julie asked and Tina gave her the public details about Shack’s phone call last night. Julie was glad to hear he was doing ok.
It turned out that Julie and Shack, or Walt as Julie had known him when they were kids, had known each other since they were little children. Shack’s father Steve and John had been buddies in the Air Force and when they both got out became truckers for the same national company here. Walt -- Shack -- and she went to the same school so they saw a lot of each other although Shack was a year ahead of her. They were both the only child in their families so they wound up together a lot at social events and were good friends. Becoming teen-agers had made that a little more touchy but they got through it.
Then the national trucking company that their fathers both worked for decided to close their branch in Rapid City. John and Steve went into debt to buy it from them and opened Shrewsbury Trucking with Steve as their first driver and co-owner. About five years ago. Steve and Mary, Shack’s mom, decided to cash it in and retire back to Mary’s home town in Missouri. Shack was nineteen by then, almost twenty, and had his father’s blood. His parents used part of their buyout money to help Shack with the down payment on his rig and Jack and Carla were happy to hire Shack to fill the gap created by his father’s departure.
But a little less than two years ago there was a terrible head-on car accident and from the reports Shack’s parents were both killed instantly. Shack was out on a route; John had taken Tom and flew out to Denver to find Shack and break the awful news to him. Jack had plane tickets for him to Missouri and a cash advance to help him get through it. Tom would finish driving out the route and if there was anything else shack needed, anything at all, all he had to do was ask.
It was a nice funeral; Julie and her parents flew out for it of course. It was beautiful and in a quiet place with the Saint Francois Mountains in the distance that Mary had grown up among and always loved.
Shack was back a week later but he had changed. The happy-go-lucky in him seemed to have died along with his parents. He’d always been a determined man but he had hardened. In some ways they had been flirting with each other for years; when one of them needed someone emotionally - but just emotionally - the other was always there. They had even necked a little once when they were teenagers but they both agreed it felt more like kissing their brother or sister and well, yuck. Partly because she could see how much he was hurting, partly because they had been playing the part with each other for years anyways they fell for real this time into each other’s arms.
Julie could see this wasn’t a happy subject for Tina but Tina hadn’t stopped her and she wanted to make a clean sheet of it for her. Yeah, they had a lot of fun. Yeah, he was good in bed and it hurt a little but she couldn't imagine Tina not knowing that first hand. And it had looked real good. Her mom had started making noises about “after she and Shack got married working the two of them into where they could eventually take over the company” sort of talk. Julie just rolled her eyes at that. It was way premature but you couldn’t see that except from the inside. Shack had a thing for handcuffs and stuff like that, surely Tina knew about that, and as hard as she tried Julie just couldn’t get him to give it up and couldn’t live with the thought of that being done to her for the next forty years.
She fought it hard; otherwise he was the dream she had grown up with and she didn’t want to lose him. But one day he asked her to do things that way and she lost it and ran out screaming. In retrospect she knew she really handled that horribly but they’d managed to stay friends anyways. And in that time they were together, to be honest, Julie had found she really wasn’t happy about sharing her man with a long stretch of concrete. Maybe that was an underlying issue. Mom and Dad had stayed out of it pretty much anyway. Shack was a good driver and as close to a son as they had ever gotten and Julie was their beloved daughter. It was real painful for everyone at first but Shack requested longer routes and Daddy would give him runs that kept him out two weeks at a stretch until time had covered over the wounds enough for them to heal. Shack would always have a little corner of her heart but they both knew there was no way for him to hold the entirety of it. It was over and they both were at peace with it.
Julie finished, looking for signs of how Tina was taking it. Tina seemed fine, maybe even a little relieved. She was very interested in the parts of Shack’s life that he hadn’t told her or that Tina had dared not ask. Julie had known she had to tell her this and started relaxing a little herself now that it was over and out in the open.
“But how” Julie asked tentatively, “and you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but how do you and Shack deal with his... his chrome issue?”
Tina laughed a little. “Well, for me it’s not a problem. Actually, sometimes I think I’m worse about it than he is.”
It took Julie a whole five seconds to process that and respond. “Oh.” The words from Julie had a lot of weight in the understanding. Julie smiled a little. “That does explain it.” She shrugged.
“I mean, he’s good and he certainly puts out the effort to be with me,” Tina started, “but this long-distance stuff has to be killing him. You’d think after all this time he’d want to fix that but... well.”
“Yeah, one would think.” Julie cut that line of conversation off a bit faster than Tina expected. “I don’t know.” Julie confessed. “Mom and Mary both put up with the road and the life just fine while Daddy and Mr. Hartn... Steve... drove. I guess it takes the right kind of woman. I could do it; it sorta runs in the family, but to be perfectly blunt I don’t think I’d be that sort of woman by choice.” She laughed. “If I ever wanted to be, I supposed I could just give Phillip thirty seconds of my attention... Nah. No way.” They both laughed.
They had talked long and were late getting back to the shop but Carla didn’t comment on it. Work went on. Accounts Payable was going to take a while, maybe into early Thursday. Tina had found getting it all collated was taking a bit longer than she had thought. She worked at it, Julie in and out of the office, until Carla came by to lock the doors and shut off the lights around 6.
Dinner was fast food on the way home. The shower was quick and bedtime after their call was early. Shack would be home tomorrow; hopefully she’d need to be caught up on her sleep for then. There was a rough spot in Shack's past he had once told her about and tomorrow looked like an excellent chance to fix it. She shivered at the thought of what it entailed, though...
But sleep was not her friend that night. She still every once in a while had bad dreams of the time that she almost died. She hadn’t had one around Shack yet and never wanted to explain it to him but it was bound to happen sooner or later. Preferably way later. But the doc had told her that nightmares of her reliving what she went through happened to a lot of people in that experience and would probably occur for another few years and then they'd fade.
In the dream she found herself in again she was 20, much younger and clearly much more stupid. She was living with Scott, who was a really nice guy when he was sober but had a bad side when he wasn’t. He obliged her handcuff fetish and had one of his own, that or zip ties. Until that night had things gone slightly different he would have killed her.
They had been drinking, they both did a lot. They’d drink, get pleasantly buzzed, go back into the bedroom of the apartment where they lived and have sex, normally with her handcuffed or zip-tied to the bed. Zip ties weren’t handcuffs but it worked well enough for her.
Except that night Scott had a problem. Actually overall he had a lot of problems. Her mom and Sherri and Angie and Jodi and Pam all told her he was bad news and before she moved in with him to not and after she was there to move out. But she knew better. He could be handled. He was just a little of a lost soul and with the right love and handling could be brought back to life. Yeah, the two of them had their moments, even some screaming fights so loud the neighbors called and the police stopped by. But he was healing and she was winning. She would win and prove it to all the doubters.
That night she didn’t know it, but he had a problem. He was a little more drunk than normal. He had seen her the night before talking to another guy, someone else in one of her classes, a guy named Chad. He was Jodi's boyfriend and happily with her but Scott had no idea who he was. Scott should have known her better than that. She and Scott, both well drunk, went giggling off to bed. At least she was giggling, he not so much. She stripped off her clothes and lay quietly and co-operatively while he zip-tied her wrists to the sides of the headboard. There were ropes for her ankles that he sometimes used to keep her ankles spread. Sometimes he left them loose so he could put her ankles on his shoulders and have sex with her that way, or even do her Viennese Oyster style; she was limber enough. This time he slipped her ankles into the loops and stretched her out really tight.
He took two large zip ties and tightened them around the base of her breasts as he often did. She wasn’t super thrilled about that. He liked the shades of purple they turned after a while. It worried her but it never seemed to have any lasting effect. The kissing they normally did as foreplay seemed strained tonight. After a few minutes of it she tentatively asked him: “Honey? What’s wrong?”
His reaction surprised her. He stopped and lit a cigarette. It was weird, he never smoked in bed. He was a bad boy but he wasn’t stupid. Or so she thought.
“We need to talk.” He loomed over her helpless body. She started even through the alcohol to get a bad feeling about this. He took a drag on the cigarette. “We need to talk about you and Chad. I want you to admit that you’re having an affair with him.”
“What? Chad?" Tina laughed out loud. "Don’t be stupid. He’s a friend and he's Jodi's boyfriend. I have been talking to him but I’m trying to get him a job at work. There’s nothing else there. I’m with you and I don’t do that.”
He worryingly didn’t look convinced. He took a strip of the duct tape they kept on the night stand beside the bed, right next to the side-cutters for any zip ties he used, and tore a piece off. As she expected he placed it over her mouth and pressed the tape down so it adhered strongly to the skin above and below her lips. They did it from time to time as part of their sex games. It didn’t feel much like a game this time.
His next action confirmed it. He took another large zip tie and fastened it around her neck. She heard the now terrifying sound as the zip tie was tightened a little around her neck. This was a problem. A real problem. She was naked, tied spread eagled on the bed and gagged. This was not good at all. Fear started to burn the alcohol away.
He climbed on top of her, prepared to enter her. “I don’t believe you.” He told her harshly. “I think I need to convince you to tell me the truth.” He shoved into her, began to pound her. He was normally rough, she liked it that way but this time he was slamming her and it hurt. It wasn’t fun, it was scary as hell. Every few strokes he would stop and tighten the zip tie around her neck a tooth or two and then go back to fucking her while the cigarette shouldered in the ash tray he had brought to the side of the bed. And every so often he’d badger her to tell him the truth, that she was having an affair on him. And then he’d tighten the zip tie around her neck some more.
If he was trying to scare her it was working wonderfully. She was so scared she couldn’t move, just lay there and let him abuse her both physically and verbally. What could she do? She couldn’t confess to an affair she wasn’t having. And how could she even do that with her mouth taped shut? And if she did, just to get him to stop, what then? If he was treating her like this now what would he do if she lied and told him that she had been unfaithful?
After a while the painful pounding of her pussy stopped. She was scared stiff. He grabbed the cigarette, gave it a few puffs. “OK, so scaring you doesn’t seem to be working.” He told her. “Now it’s on to phase two.” He sat on her hips and with an evil smile began to lower the lit end of the cigarette toward her left breast.
She freaked. She struggled, grunted and yelled what little good it did through the duct tape. She thrashed but with his weight on her hips she went nowhere. And the cigarette was getting close now. When I was an inch away and she could feel the heat she froze. A trapped animal afraid to move.
“You gonna tell me the truth?” He asked. She couldn’t even blink, just kept her eyes on the end of the cigarette hovering a handbreadth from her skin. After a second with no answer, he pushed it into her nipple.
She howled and thrashed. It was only for a second but it was long enough. And he had done it, he had crossed the line. Mom and everyone else were right and she was wrong. She knew that bitterly now as the pain flared in her nipple. And she thrashed but it did no good. And he was still astride her laughing.
He pulled the cigarette back. “Will you confess now?” He taunted her. “Or do you want more of that?”
She had a voice now, as little good as it did her under the duct tape. “I can’t” she yelled even though it didn’t sound like words on the outside. “I didn’t. Stop!”
“Ok.” He concluded, still drunk. “Up to you how far this goes.” And the cigarette started to descend again, this time toward her right nipple.
Despite her screaming, despite her muffled pleadings, he burnt her again. He held it a little longer this time and mixed in with the cigarette smoke she could smell the sickening scent of burnt flesh, her burnt flesh. And he pulled it away and all that was left was the flowing pain matching the feelings from the other side of her chest.
He put the cigarette back down after that, it seemed to him that wasn’t going to get him the result he wanted. He went back to fucking her and every so often tightening the zip tie around her neck. It was starting to get snug now.
And he burned her more. Four more times in different places on each breast. Slowly lowering the cigarette each time to increase her torture, she helpless to watch it come closer and then burn her, melt her. Screaming then begging then crying. Nothing got through to him. The pain and the smell of burnt skin got to her just fine.
And he stopped. To Tina’s disbelief he moved to the foot of the bed, loosened and removed the ropes from her ankles. He climbed back on the bed and Tina couldn’t believe it. He honestly thought he was going to grab her legs, put her feet on his shoulders and keep going. The hell he would!
As he climbed onto the bed her self-defense training came back. She pulled her legs in as far as she could and delivered a massive two-footed kick to his chest as he drew near. She was far from weak and he was off balance and even she couldn't believe the energy in that kick. She hit him so hard that he flew backward, staggered. and crashed hard into the dresser past the foot of the bed. He hit it hard. The mirror crashed and broke with an awful, loud sound. That wall was shared with one of the neighbors who always called the police. It wasn’t much of a chance: They might not be home. He had already hurt her badly, her breasts and nipples ached and burned and the sickening smell of burnt flesh, hers, was still in the air. And she had no doubt that given long enough uninterrupted he would tighten the zip tie around her neck tight enough to kill her. It was already tight enough to hinder her breathing. If he would burn her like this she didn't count anything out. And he was too drunk to really know what he was doing. Knocking him against the wall was a faint chance but all she had. Besides, who knew, maybe she had knocked him out. Her feet were free. It was a long shot but if he was out maybe she could reach the cutters with her feet and get them to her hand and free herself.
It didn’t work. He was hurt but not that bad. He was, however, furious. He grabbed her kicking ankles, eventually got them back in the ropes and spread back out. She fought as long as she could, it normally took the police anywhere from ten to thirty minutes to come by. If they’d even been called. She hoped they had and it was for them a quiet night.
There was no doubt that eventually she’d lose her battle. Once again secured he climbed back on top of her, a wicked sliver of the glass from the mirror in his hand. “Nice try, bitch!” He snarled. He ran the sharp edge of the glass down the center of her chest between her breasts. It hurt but she couldn’t tell if he had cut her and drawn blood. “Well, your cheating ass is going to pay for that!” And he grabbed the zip tie and tightened it all the way down, as tight as it would go around her neck. Her airway was gone.
She started struggling but she was tied and it was hopeless. She tried, there was no air getting through, maybe just a sliver, nowhere near enough. She looked desperately over at the cutters on the side table. They were two feet from her left hand but might as well have been on another planet. She dimly was aware that he had entered her again and was slamming her hard. Her lungs were hurting, starting to burn worse than her nipples. She thrashed but she couldn’t get loose and couldn’t stop him. It was over. The stupid bastard was going to win. He was going to kill her. She was about to die. He continued to slam into her as the light started to go dim.
And then she heard it. A firm knock on the front door. Scott got a wild look in his eyes. Her lungs were burning and she was starting to fade but she could still register his threat that if she didn’t keep quiet he was going to come back and really fuck her up. And he got up to answer the door.
She waited until she heard the door open. And with the last of her strength, the world spinning faster and faster in a circle as she faded, she thrashed as hard as she could. Bang, bang, bang, bang! went the headboard against the wall. But after the fourth one she was gone. The exertion had been too much with so little oxygen left. The darkness claimed her and everything was turning rapidly black even though her lungs ached and felt like they were on fire. Her last fleeting thought was anguish for all the people, especially her parents, to which she’d never have a chance to tell them one last time that she loved them. And then the light went all the way out.
And she woke up, sitting straight up alone in Shack’s bed in Rapid City, a scream in her throat that she barely managed to keep buried and her heart pounding like a bass drum. Shaking. Just another bad dream, she reminded herself as she settled back down. “You will get them,” the doc had told her. “They will get fewer and further apart with time. It’s just your mind dealing with what has been done to you. Normal. When it happens take a sleeping med if you need to and go back to sleep.” She laughed. Go back to sleep after that? It hardly ever happened.
Laying there, Tina went back over what did happen. She woke up in a hospital bed. Her mother was instantly standing over her, in her view. Her breasts and her nipples still hurt but she could feel bandages and ointment on them. Her neck hurt but the pain was nothing compared to what for her was a few seconds ago. Her lungs were full of beautiful hospital air; she gratefully drew another breath. The beeping of the machinery attached to her was regular and reassuring but nothing like her mother’s lovely face above her. “Tina, Tina, oh my God Tina we thought we had lost you. The doctors said another few minutes of that and you’d have been gone. But baby that bastard hurt you but you are going to be fine. You’re going to be just fine. Just rest, baby. Your dad will be here in a little bit.”
Tina tried to talk; it was more of a croak. Her mom pressed a squeeze bottle of water to her lips, it felt good running down her throat. She tried again to speak.
“Mom!” It was still a croak, but a recognizable one. “I’m sorry. You were right.” Her mother leaned down and hugged her. She tried to hug her back but it hurt too much and she gave up. She hurt all over and she didn’t understand that.
“Baby, stay still. It doesn’t matter. You’re safe and you’re going to be all right. That’s all that matters.” Her mother ordered her, cautioned her. “You ran completely out of oxygen and it hurt your muscles a bit but they’ll heal and in a few days you’ll be fine. Now just rest sweetie. You’re going to be fine.”
She fell back asleep. Over the next week she recovered her strength. By day three she was getting irritated at the doctors for not letting her go. The police had come by and interviewed her. Scott was still in jail, attempted murder the most serious charge among others. The policewoman took her story and would take an application for a restraining order to the courts for her. They let her know the next day it was in place. Scott was prohibited by law from being closer than fifty feet from her for any reason in the world. Tina was glad for that. But fifty miles would have been better. Or fifty thousand.
When Tina was released her father had a gift for her. His Glock. Tina wasn’t a gun person but had fired it enough to be able to defend herself with one and at least hit the paper target if not the body marked inside it. She thanked him for it with a hug and promised she’d always have it handy. This was never going to happen again and she was going to get real serious about her Krav Maga. And, with a smile to her mother, from here on out when everyone in her life told her something was wrong she’d listen.
Scott did actually call her once. She couldn’t believe it. She had her things gone out of that apartment long before he got bail posted and released. As far as she was concerned she never wanted to be reminded of his existence again. But he called using a number she didn’t recognize. He apologized, he was drunk that night, he never wanted to hurt her, he was so sorry, he’d never do that again, he swore.
She couldn’t believe him. He sounded like he thought there was something left. What planet was he on? She coolly informed him that in case he didn’t know she had a restraining order against him and she’d have his ass thrown back in jail in a nanosecond if he got within 50 feet of her. Or on second thought, he was welcome to get about thirty feet away from her. She had a gun now and wouldn’t miss from that range. She’d happily empty the entire fucking magazine into his worthless pathetic chest. Except she'd use the last bullet to shoot his dick off. She said she realized it wouldn’t be easy to hit that small a target but she’d make the effort. And after what he had done to her there wasn’t a jury in the world that would convict her.
Laying in Shack’s bed she looked over to the clock. It was 4:45 and she was scheduled to be up at 6 anyways and sleep wasn’t coming back right now. She’d just go by a diner Shack had taken her to before and get a nice breakfast. She regretted that she would be a little tired tonight with Shack; she had plans for tonight. She’d just drink coffee or something. She’d find a way. She always did.
Tina breezed in at 7:02 sharp. Julie was already there. Julie looked her over: The Shrewsbury Trucking polo fit Tina well; Shack would be pleased she was sure. But those jeans Tina was wearing...
"Wow." Julie teased her, nodding at her jeans. "Found a sale on blue spray paint I see. How long did it take to get into those?" They fit every single curve and were perfectly cut for Tina's figure. Devastating. Another reason, Julie thought, that Walt has been chasing her across three state lines.
Tina just blushed a little. "About fifteen minutes, actually, but he's worth it. It used to only take about five. I really do need to start running again."
They used GPS tracking software at Shrewsbury so Tina could check on the computer and see exactly where Shack was any time his rig was moving. So she was waiting at 3:10 when he pulled in. She pulled him into a kiss as he climbed down. He complained she should stop; he hadn’t gotten a shower since he left. She told him to shut up and kiss her. But she’d happily join him in that shower later.
The books were far enough along that Tina could take the rest of the day off. After the shower they went out for dinner. Tina put the blue jeans back on but wore a matching denim jacket over what looked to Shack to be just a very large red print handkerchief tied in a pointing-down triangle above her breasts. Not very far above her areola lines, lots and lots of cleavage. In the pickup on the way to dinner when she took the jacket off he saw he was right. The bottom tip of the triangle was down around her navel but the kerchief left an amazing amount of side-boob visible. No way there was anything but the kerchief on her chest.
Dinner - with the jacket back on but opened once they were seated - was nice. She got Shack's permission and downed the first of two Long Island Iced Teas and then the jacket came back off for the rest of the meal. He just couldn't take his eyes off her and let her know he had been looking forward all week to being with her again and what was going to happen when they got home.
As they climbed back into the truck and Tina pulled her jacket off she said it was only 9, it was a little too early to go home. Shack was a bit disappointed but figured it was the drinks and sure, they could wait a little. Shack had driven past and shown her the high school from where he had graduated. She wanted to go back there and she wanted a tour. And he should bring his brown backpack with him.
That raised an eyebrow. His brown backpack contained rope and handcuffs and all his things like that.
They walked around it. It was quiet, deserted. Just the night-time lights by the buildings were on and the glow from a full moon. Nobody else was there; the cleanup people had already completed their tasks and departed. Tina was interested in all the places where he had classes and despite the alcohol earlier was walking just fine almost all the time. She was a little giggly though.
Eventually the tour led to the sports fields and the bleachers around them. Tina pointed to a large set of bleachers at one edge of the baseball field. "That's where you and Wendy tried to get it on, yes?" Shack nodded. He didn't really talk too much about his past sex partners but every once in a while Tina could get a story from him. The one involving Wendy and the bleachers Tina had thought was pretty hot but hadn't turned out all that well for Shack.
It was a sort of a rite of passage when Shack had been going through school. He and Wendy were seniors and he had already discovered he liked to involve ropes and things in his sex play. Wendy obliged him quite a lot but didn't share the interest with him. The rite of passage was, if you were a girl, to be completely naked and have an orgasm underneath the bleachers. If you were a guy it was to be completely naked and take a girl to her orgasm there. Certain additional things made it bigger, like if before they did it the girl let the guy take her clothes away and hide them somewhere she didn't know and couldn't get to them. And super-points were given if you did it while a game was in progress and people were sitting above you.
The bleachers were wood with a metal support frame and plywood closing the sides. One day Shack and Wendy decided it was their turn. Shack had even talked her into agreeing to let him take her clothes away and that she be tied up and stretched out while they did it. The during a game part was a no way with Wendy and Shack was quite happy with what she had agreed to. But when they got there Wendy chickened out on everything but the naked sex part even though it was a quiet night like tonight. They did do the deed but Tina realized Shack was pretty disappointed.
"Do to me what you wanted to do to Wendy. Tie me up. Take my clothes away and hide them somewhere I don't know. And then come back and make me earn my clothes back." Tina pulled off her jacket and handed it to him to emphasize her point.
Shack didn't answer and hardly paused. He just took the jacket and her hand and led her underneath the bleachers. They had to climb through a little of the framework but found themselves in a small area, about ten-foot square. The ground was a concrete pad and it was surprisingly clean and dirt-free unlike the ground to either side of the clear area which looked as dusty and dirty as one would expect for the location.
Tina stood in the middle of the area and locked eyes with Shack as he dug into the backpack. He came out with a long piece of nylon rope. She silently extended her wrist as Shack wrapped rope around it three times, snug and supported, then tied it and her other wrist out high and wide. She never actually got Shack to tell her the exact details of what he would have done. OK, Tina thought, the first position is a standing one. It was fine with her. She was a little scared, glad she had the alcohol to calm her worries, and determined to go through with it and give Shack what he had missed before. She stood there, her arms making a human "Y". The bottom of the kerchief flapped a little in the warm gentle wind that blew through the structure and her nipples pushed hard against the fabric.
Shack stood in front of her, took her head in his hands, kissed her roughly. She yielded happily to the commanding, claiming kiss. His hands roamed down, finally under the kerchief, rubbing her nipples. It felt so wonderful. She'd been wanting this for days. Then he flipped it up and her breasts were exposed. He leaned down and took a nipple into his mouth, chewing and sucking gently. Tina moaned.
Shack broke away and walked behind her. He untied the knot holding the kerchief around her chest and gathered it into his hand. Tina took a deep breath as it came off despite herself. She looked around as she had done several times since they stopped here and still saw nothing but the soccer field beyond the back of the bleachers. She swallowed hard but kept her cool.
Despite herself and her situation she smiled. The top was the easy part. The jeans that Julie had joked about being spray painted on earlier today would not come off anywhere near that easy. She gave a mental shrug. The way she was that was Shack's problem. He appeared to be doing just fine on motivation.
After caressing and massaging her breasts from behind her - which felt ever so good - he came back around and began to address the jeans problem. For footwear she had slip-on platform wedges which she stepped out of. It made the ropes around her wrists stretch tight but her bare feet were able to be flat on the concrete.
It did take Shack more than five minutes to work the jeans off, and several comments, to which Tina just smiled. But it was done and now she was naked, still standing in a "Y", everything showing. Still nobody else in sight thankfully. She shivered. She wasn't sure if it was the gentle wind through the framework, the situation, or both.
She stepped back into the heels to give her wrists a break. Shack spent a few more minutes kissing her while his hands roamed all over her helpless body. That felt real, real good, especially when his hand roamed over her clit. But it ended too soon.
He brought out more rope and tied her ankles about three feet apart. Her toes were still in the platform heels but it was far enough apart that the back of her feet no longer rested in them. She figured Shack had done this intentionally. She knew she was supposed to be completely naked but if Shack took her shoes away she'd be lucky to touch the ground with her toes. She shrugged mentally again. Nothing she could do about it. Nothing she would do about it if she could. This was for him. And if he did that explained why her wrists were wrapped so well and because of that it'd be interesting but not that bad.
Slipping her shoes off her feet was the next thing he did and she had no clothes at all again. She could touch the ground with her toes and stand on her toes, but nobody could do that forever; at least she couldn't. She'd make it. She was determined and the alcohol helped.
He kissed her and told her how beautiful she was - damn straight, she thought - how lucky he was to have her, how much he loved her. And then with a final kiss he reached back into his bag for a roll of duct tape, tore off a piece, and pressed it firmly around her mouth. Gagged. Naked. Completely visible and really helpless now.
With a smile he gathered up all of her clothing into his backpack and with another smile and a silently mouthed "Thank you!" he stepped back through the framework and was gone. There was nothing now in the open area except Tina's naked body and the ropes that held her there.
She could in fact just stand on her tiptoes. But it wouldn't last. Eventually her calves would tire and she'd be left hanging by her wrists. All that rope Shack wrapped around her wrists would keep her from damage but it'd stretch her. She knew Shack knew all of this. She had never been able to get Shack to tell her exactly what he would have done to Wendy so she assumed this was one of the things he had planned to do a decade ago. She'd be fine. The wind was gentle, the quiet sounds of cars out on the street on the other side of the school came faintly to her ears. No movement passed her eyes, just the refreshment stand she could see past the side of the bleachers and the green grass of the athletic fields all around them. Shack did seem a little different right now, like he was in some ways somewhere else. Probably that place was here but ten years ago. A little part of her wondered if her head and her mouth had written a check that her body would have trouble cashing.
She faded. It didn't hurt any more than it was already which was negligible. She had done the up and down dance on her toes for about five minutes and now she was just hanging, naked, head sagged, waiting. If something had happened to Shack she'd still be here when the sun came up and she’d be easily visible from a huge area. She’d still be here in ten hours when school started back up. She wondered if that happened, who would find her. And what they would do with her. There was no guarantee, especially with her tied, naked and gagged, that the person would be a rescuer.
They were out in public and she truly had no clue where her clothes were so even if she got loose then what? There was a huge distance between where they were and the paltry cover of the school buildings. She had no clue what she'd do if classes were about to start in the morning and she was still here but loose without any clothes. Staying undiscovered was a laugh.
It wasn’t like she could run home. There was no way she could manage to travel naked the twelve hundred miles to it. She wasn’t one hundred percent sure where Shack’s apartment was and even if she were it was a dozen miles away through solid city. No way she could travel that naked before sunrise undiscovered. Even if she could get there she had no keys to get in.
She mentally shrugged. Nothing she could do about it in her current state. She trusted Shack with way more than this and she did trust him. Besides, it wasn’t like this whole scene tonight was his idea. She reflected quietly as the wind blew yet again gently through the bleachers, stirring her hair and caressing her body with its warmish air. Not the first time she had let herself be made helpless in a risky situation. In fact, she admitted, she liked the thought of that and on some levels was having a blast. And not the last time either, she knew herself too well. And always a little scary when one was in the middle of it. But that was the thrill, wasn’t it? The wind blew some more and she relaxed in its caress.
Shack reappeared a moment later, climbing through the framing to reach her. He only had a water bottle in his hands. He pulled off the duct tape and fed her some of it, checking with her to get her affirmation that she was ok.
When that was done Shack loosened the ropes on both wrists enough for her feet to rest firmly on the ground. But instead of tying the rope back above and outside her, he tied it out to the side and to the framing about at waist level. She figured it out when he untied the rope at the end of the other wrist and forced her, without untying her ankles, to her knees. Then he tied her loose wrist to match the other.
Now secured on her knees Shack took the time to remove all of his clothing. His cock was rock hard and he was shifting a little, eager to do something with it. It looked real good. Tied like this she knew where it was going and what she was expected to do. It was a little confusing, all she expected was that Shack would tie her in a position on the ground, probably spread-eagled, so that he could bring them both to an orgasm. She could surely get him to an orgasm his way but giving a blow job wouldn't do a thing for her. She was ok with the scene they were having, had planned it in general terms, and things were going fine enough.
Shack rubbed his member a few times then approached her. She bent forward to take it into her mouth. She'd gone down on him and even got a run or two up and down it's length with her mouth when she felt Shack grab the hair tightly on either side of her head with both hands and hold her still.
"No." He said quietly. Holding her head in place began to fuck her mouth himself. She wanted to co-operate and tied as she was having little other choice anyways. She worked with him and tried to provide as enjoyable an experience for him as she could. And time things so she wouldn't choke; he was long enough to do that if her timing was off.
It was weird; this wasn't much like the man she knew and loved. Sure, rough sex was fine and even enjoyed but he had such a tight grip on her hair that even if she held still it still hurt a bit when he pulled and when he bounced up against her as he thrust. He was really going to town on her mouth. It seemed like he was angry.
And then it dawned on her. The plan she had made was working a little too well and Shack was re-living, working through his anger at that night long ago. Catharsis. She was ok with that. He was being rough with her but he wasn't hurting her; she'd been there enough to know they were still on the safe side of that line. OK. Tonight the sex is a little harder than normal. Go for it, love. I trust you.
He went on for a little while and then stopped. He hadn't come yet which was kind of a relief. They really couldn't do an all-nighter since tomorrow morning he was driving and she had a desk to be at. She kept her head down in a submissive pose while he untied the ropes holding her ankles from the support frame, then had her stand up and then sit back down with her legs in front of her. She figured this was going to wind up with her spread wide on her back and that was fine with her. She turned out to be correct. There wasn't much slack in the ropes but she had no plans to go anywhere.
The night was warm and just a little windy. Nobody was around but them. The man she loved had a very hard cock and was about to use it on her. She was tied up and he was having a great time, wherever he was at the moment. This was going wonderfully and she hoped nothing ruined it.
She just lay quietly as he just stood and looked at her for a long moment. Probably wishes he had a camera she thought. He then knelt down between her legs. She braced herself. Based on what had already happened this was likely going to be a ride.
Time to try something. Either it was going to work real well or bomb like a MOAB.
"Stop, Walt," she said, quietly but firmly, in a higher-pitched voice than normal. "I've changed my mind."
He stopped, just about to enter her. "Are you serious?"
She shook her head, responded in her normal voice. "Hell no! I've been looking forward to this for three days and you damn straight better not stop. But I think I see what's happening. A little part of you is seeing me as Wendy or what you'd do to her if she were here right now."
He didn't reply but looked down which confirmed it.
"Just this night, go for it. Look down and see Wendy if you want to. Do to her what you wanted to do, what she promised you and should have let you do. Give her what she has coming. I can see you want to. I don't mind. Just tonight only, go ahead."
He looked at her for a second with love and then the other person was back. As the duct tape went back over her mouth she wondered again about her mouth and mind writing checks. But it was too late for that now, wasn't it?
He put his hands straight down on her breasts, flattening them and pressing her hard against the concrete beneath her. And he began squeezing her breasts very, very hard. Angry again.
He didn't disappoint. He thrust into her so hard it pulled against the ropes holding her ankles. Involuntarily she gave a gasp as he rammed hard. OK, maybe problems walking tomorrow. He slammed her a second time just as hard as she gave the gasp. OK, definite walking problems tomorrow. And a loose skirt too.
He kept going. It wasn't going to take Tina long. Being drunk always made her worry less and cum faster and she liked the scene. She was naked and tied and helpless although it would have been better with handcuffs. Someone she loved and trusted was giving it to her hard. Using her for his own pleasure. And oh, damn, it was working. Real good she thought as he slammed hard into her yet again. Maybe too good but she'd survive. And love every minute of it.
It didn't take long before she felt her explosion welling up inside her. All she could manage was little short groans, getting faster and higher-pitched the closer she got. And damn, he wasn't showing any signs of stopping, of tiring, hell, even slowing down, and...... "ahhhhhhhhh" she screamed as quietly as she could through the gag as the dam broke.
Blessedly he stopped. She had feared he might keep going and she'd be screaming and having spasms of a far less pleasant kind. He didn't pull out of her like he almost always did, so every twitch her body made moved him a little inside her which was tender lightning bolts. After what seemed like forever the waves flowed back to the sea and she was again tied and spread under the bleachers. She nodded and groaned a little. Shack started back up again. She was numb, gone, blissed out. Have fun, my love, she thought. Hope I didn't make too much noise.
She just lay still while Shack drove to his own end. He wasn't slamming her like he had been doing a moment ago. And after about four minutes he gave a cry, clenched up, slammed deeply into her and she felt him go, three, four, five, six times. He just lay on top of her, panting heavily.
With a deep sigh he opened his eyes and she could see that whoever he had just been was gone and the man she loved was back. He took off the tape and then got up and rapidly dressed himself. "I'll be back as fast as I can."
"Wait!" She thought to call out but after what had happened no words came out. "Untie me first." And it was too late: he was gone to get her clothes. Inwardly she sighed and hoped he hurried. She'd hate to leave a puddle of his cum on the ground.
They made it home and into bed just fine.
When the alarm went off she opened her eyes to see Shack lying beside her with a worried look on his face and she smiled happily that he was beside her.
Shack was worried. "Tina, baby I am so sorry I got carried away last night. I'm so sorry!"
She tousled his hair, pulled the sheets back. She was way too sore to consider a quickie. Probably the shower wouldn't be much fun either. But she smiled at him and kissed him then shook her head no.
"Honey, you did what I asked. It was my idea, remember? And I had a great time. I don't know if I want to do it again but I have zero regrets about what we did. And neither should you."
The shower was kinda painful. She wore a loose skirt and a very firm bra. Walking did hurt a bit and so did her breasts when they bounced. Fortunately her wrists looked fine, just a little trace on her left one that her watch band would cover. Shack didn't say a thing and just was as absolutely gracious as he could possibly be.
They blew into Shrewsbury's at 7:30, a half-hour late for them both. Julie watched them walk as they came in to drop off Tina's briefcase. Julie stifled a giggle and turned back to her work but Tina saw the smile fade to a frown on Julie's face as she watched Tina walk and it looked like she noticed Tina's wrist. Damn, better go put some pancake on that after all.
Shack left to go do the walk-around on his rig. Tina plugged the different cords into her laptop. and fired it up. She looked up to find Julie coming up to her holding a cup of coffee for her.
“You aren't moving too well. Looks like you two had a wild night. Can I get you some more coffee? Aspirin? Mentholated rub?”
"I hope it's not that obvious."
"It's not, but being female and knowing Walt, well..." Julie thought it would do no good finishing that sentence so she didn't.
"It doesn't hurt to see us?" Tina blurted out.
Julie took a deep breath. "No, not really. We tried that, it didn't work, we're over that. Besides the chrome stuff, I don't think I am the type to put up with being alone quite as much as the life requires. Besides, he's happy, really happy since he met you and you're a good person and good for him. You bring back the old Walt, the old Shack we knew before he lost his parents. And besides it's not like I don't have my own irons in the fire elsewhere. No hits yet, but I'm pretty sure I could go out with several guys in my classes with just a suggestion and a smile if I wasn't so damn picky."
Tina ducked off to the bathroom to attend to that pancake makeup. When she came back she was ready to thank Julie but she wasn't there. Tina looked out the window to see her disappearing into the truck barn where Shack had gone. Why would Julie want to talk to Shack? Unexpected a little green knife slid into Tina's heart.
Tina eased in the side door of the truck barn which fortunately was standing open. She moved far enough inside, she could hear them talking but not be seen. Julie when she left would go out the other door so as long as Tina didn't give herself away she should be fine. No engines were running in the bays so she could hear the conversation.
Julie: "Go ask Daddy and Mom. They'll help. They think it'd be a good thing too."
Shack: "That's not the way it's done. You don't do that on other people's money."
"Don't be stupid. You only get one chance for some things no matter what your surroundings are. Don't let it slip away."
"I know that."
Tina still dared not look around the corner and possibly be seen. This could all be what it seemed: innocent. Or could she have been wrong all along and those two the best actors she'd ever met in her whole life. She'd know in a few seconds. If she heard the sound of a kiss she'd come around the corner, just to confirm it. As she held her breath she wondered. What if she was right? What then?
Well, just finish the week here. Rent a car, stay in a hotel. She'd need to be moving out of Sherri's place in a few months anyway. Go somewhere else. It was a huge city back home. Shack would never find her if she didn't want to be found.
But what then?
Hell, LeeAnn back home was lez. Maybe she just wasn't cut out for men. There actually was a convent downtown. Maybe that. Or check up on Jerome or find a Marine of her own. One thing was for damn straight: In eight years Charlie had never once even looked around on Sherri.
Or she could climb back into Scott's bed. And not struggle the next time he tried to kill her.
Around the corner Julie was talking again. No sounds of a kiss or anything like it. "OK, I'd better get going before I'm missed. You've got everything you want. Don't let it slip away. That would break all of our hearts."
It sounded like Julie started to move, then stopped. Tina again held her breath, then heard Julie's voice: "You know Walt, if God Himself had designed a woman for you you still would have gotten Tina. It's hard enough to find someone who will put up with the road, but she's beautiful, has brains and to top it off she has a chrome thing to match yours. If you told me there was anyone like that out there in the entire world I just would have laughed. But she exists and you found each other and she does really love you. Big time. Women don't wait forever Walt. It's inconceivable that you found her; you'll *never* find a second one anything like her if she gets away. For God's sake don't let her get away." Then came the sounds of Julie walking out the door. Words could not express how foolish Tina felt for doubting either one of them.
She waited a minute or two, then noisily rattled the door she had come in and walked in to say her goodbyes. Shack seemed a bit out of it at first but recovered just fine. Tina pretended not to notice.
But their time together was over far too fast, just a wind blowing through and again she listened to the sound of a diesel engine as it faded into the distance and was gone. He’d be back tomorrow evening and they’d have the weekend together. She’d just have to hold it together until then.
Back to the books. Julie was there, didn’t say a word, just offered lunch at an old-time diner she knew where she said the malts were awesome. Tina gladly accepted. It seemed silly from where she now stood how much she had worried about Julie. She did know better now and if the world was good no matter what happened Julie would always be a friend.
As he drove Shack thought about what Julie had said to him. It had gotten in the way of saying goodbye to Tina. She thankfully hadn't reacted. Julie had cornered him while he was looking over the rig.
"Damn Walt!" Julie had started. "Tina looks like she can hardly walk. It's only been three days, you gotta be careful or you might break something on the woman."
Shack shrugged, embarrassed. "Yeah, we went out drinking and got a little carried away. But I've apologized all over myself and she says everything is fine."
"You know, Walt, you need to get a ring on that girl. When lightning strikes like it has here you're damn lucky. It sure as hell won't strike twice."
"Yeah. Already working on that. I'm not independently wealthy. To do it right takes some time.”
"Go ask Daddy and Mom. They'll help. They think it'd be a good thing too."
"That's not the way it's done. You don't do that on other people's money."
"Don't be stupid. You only get one chance for some things no matter what your surroundings are. Don't let it slip away."
"I know that." And he did. Hopefully Tina would wait long enough for everything to get in place. But Julie was intergalactically right about one thing: He'd never find anyone better.
Tina was reviewing the tax filings and there was a problem with them. Not a bad problem but a problem. She double-checked and it looked like she was right. There was more than one way to take a certain deduction and it looked like Shrewsbury was taking it the wrong way. She knew this because the hardware store had the same issue and she used what to her was the correct way there. She calculated it out and for the seven years they could re-file, she let out a whistle. Shrewsbury would get back $31,700.
It took her until Friday morning to get the full confirmation. Julie was already in the office. Tina called John and Carla in. She pointed out the change, said she knew it would work; it did for one of her other clients and here was the confirmation. Who at the people who did their taxes did she need to talk to so this could get straightened out?
Julie was speechless. Carla looked like she wanted to cry. John just took the documentation and disappeared into his office and closed the door. Forty-five minutes later he was back out, smiling and almost dancing. Their accountant agreed and would refile immediately. Based on the way the IRS worked they could expect the check in six to eight weeks. And John walked straight up to Tina then took her hands and blessed her.
“Wow!” Julie confided out at lunch. “I never would have thought of doing it that way. I’m so glad you found it.”
“Don’t feel bad.” Tina replied. “Not everybody knows about that and the IRS as sure as hell isn’t going to tell people. I’m just glad I knew about it.”
When shack rolled in at 4:15 the paperwork was all in place on the servers and what needed to be on paper was in a well-organized file on Julie’s desk and Julie was fully briefed. Tina was there to greet Shack as he climbed out of his rig but John and Carla were there too. Shack looked a little curious about that.
“Shack, Tina has found an error in our taxes that our accountant has confirmed is going to get the IRS to send us a check for a little over thirty thousand dollars. You have a company credit card. Go use it to take her out to the best dinner imaginable, on us.”
Shack got a big grin on his face. He thanked them very much and said he knew just the place.
Dinner was lovely, the place was horribly fancy with a serious train theme and the steaks were absolutely the bomb.
Neither of them drank; it was both a celebration and both of them could feel the boarding call coming for the airplane Tina needed to be on at noon on Sunday starting to draw closer in the distance.
Saturday turned out to be a lazy day in Shack's apartment together. Tine never did bother to put on any clothes and just ran around naked all day. For the hell of it Tina had her hands cuffed in front of her for most of the day. She didn't even try to close the windows, just didn't care, or more truthfully liked the effect it was having on Shack.
At one point he cuffed her hands behind her and put clover clamps on her nipples and used them to hold her bent over the low divider between the living room and the hallway at a ninety-degree angle at her waist. He left her stuck like that. He said he’d let her go when he got tired of it or sooner if she managed to stand up. Sure, she thought, tear the clamps off her nipples? These were clover clamps: they didn’t work that way and they both knew it. Not going to happen.
He would stop and play with her for a while from time to time, rubbing her bottom or fingering her. All she could do is just shuffle, her hands pinned helplessly behind her and her breasts stretched by the clamps and their chains holding her bent over. It was kind of hot, being stuck and helpless, but it also got old. She tried pulling up on the clamps once it did and that only happened once.
After about a half-hour he came behind her and she could feel him slapping his hard cock against her buttocks. Both holes were easily available. They had tried anal sex a few times, it wasn’t either of their thing but Shack thought this might be a time to revisit it. Especially since there was absolutely nothing Tina could do about it but she would bounce all around while he did that with the inevitable desired effect on her already-stretched breasts. “Which one do I take?” He mused out loud. “Front or back?”
“Front!” She demanded.
“Works for me.” He replied. He took his time, stroking her slow. It was driving her crazy, running her engine but not running her hard. And then he stopped.
“What, why?” She squawked from where her head was in the other room. “You get back in there!”
He sat down on the couch beside where her head was at. He leaned over and gave her cheek a quick kiss. “Nah. I’m going to keep doing that until you agree to give me a blow job and swallow everything.”
She grimaced and shook her head. Yeah, right. If she sucked him off it’d be a couple of hours before he was able to do anything again and dammit she wanted hers now.
He got behind her and took her nearly over the edge and all the way to distraction twice more before she gave in and sucked him off. After that he let her go and she commenced to beat him with a pillow. He let her go for a few minutes, then grabbed her arms and pinned her. Then laid her on her back and proceeded to eat her out until she was completely over it.
They ordered pizza delivered for dinner. Shack challenged her to do a pizza dare. She glared at him for a second, then snorted and agreed. She was up for it; she wondered how he'd handle it.
Shack handled it very well and as hoped was properly attentive and grateful afterward. The delivery person, a early-twenties male, stammered at first but recovered and beyond staring all over her naked body - which Tina thought was only reasonable - he was pretty cool about it. She would have given him a hug after she completed paying for it if she weren't still handcuffed. She told him not to worry about the handcuffs; she hinted she had lost a bet and that she had them on voluntarily.
The airport was hard as they knew it would be as it was every time they parted. Shack would be down next weekend, for another getaway to the coast. As they broke away from their last hug and kiss Shack whispered to her: "Wait for me. Please."
She grabbed his hands, looked him in the eyes and almost started crying. "I will. What else could I do?"
Continues in part five