Game of Chance

That shut her up, and in her moment of confusion I took her calmly by the arm and led her past the desk. The elevator came down like the shadow of doom and I pulled the door open and pushed her in. My heart was hammering in my chest.

"Bogdan fucked with the wrong people this time." I said. "I don't bother with small-timers like this but he was asking for it, and now he's into me for twenty-five hundred E's, his shitty little boat and his wife."

The boat was a lie, but I figured it couldn't hurt.

She was nervous now, and she looked very small against the black iron of the elevator. "What are you going to do to him?"

"Well now, that's entirely up to you, isn't it?."

We stopped with a heavy clang on the third floor and I opened the wrought iron door and held it for her.

It was a nice-sized little apartment, totally redone. There were French doors that looked out over the harbor, and another set that gave out onto the courtyard with the orange trees, but there was also a TV and a courtesy bar.

I left her standing by the door and went to the phone and dialed the hotel I was calling from, the only phone number I knew. I blocked the phone with my body and put my finger down on the cradle before anyone picked up.

"Yeah, it's me," I said into the dead phone. "Yeah, I'm fine, but I want you to have that prick followed. You know where he lives. Over on Aragosta Street."—I remembered the name Bogdan had mentioned—"No. Only if and when I say so. Yeah. No, Right. I'll let you know."

I hung up the phone. Alena hadn't moved. She looked like she was cold.

"You're serious," she said.

I didn't lie. I just didn't say anything.

"You're an animal," she said. "You're as bad as he is."

"Good. Then you should be used to it."

I saw her nostrils flare like a bull's before it charges, but she got herself under control. I filed it away. It's always good to have a hook.

I went to the bar and opened a bottle of the local brandy. I needed a drink. Bluffing at cards was one thing. The stakes were much higher here. I really wanted this girl. I didn't know how else to get her, but this tough guy act was getting hard to maintain..

She followed me into the living room with sudden nonchalance. "So what do you intend to do? Rape me? Because that's the only way it's going to happen."

"I'd thought about it." I splashed brandy into a glass. No ice. There was never any ice. "I was hoping we could come to a more amenable solution."

I took a big drink and then poured some into another glass and handed it to her. She took it.

"Forgive me. My English isn't all that good. What does 'amenable' mean?"

"Friendly."

She watched me like a cat, nothing moving but her eyes. That feeling of erotic tension was back, that feeling of having known each other before, and she was taking my measure, trying to get a handle on me. She was interested—maybe not willing, but interested. Otherwise she would have left, threat or no threat..

"This is how it's going to work," I said. "I won a night with you, and that's what I expect, whether I fuck you or not. I can't let you go, because that'll make me look like an idiot who lets people stiff him, and then everyone'll start stiffing me. And it'll also mean that Bogdan doesn't pay his debts, and that'll ruin his reputation. I know how much his reputation means to you."

I let that one sink in as I took another drink. It was truly vile stuff, made of peach pits or something.

"On top of that, Grecco won't like it when he finds who Bogdan's been screwing with. No telling what he'll do, even if I don't do anything. So you see, you're stuck here for twenty-four hours whether you like it or not."

Alena was expressionless.

"I'm not a bad guy" I said, changing tone. "I know I cleaned him out—cleaned you out too, didn't I? Down to the fucking rent money. So tomorrow morning, twenty-four hours from now, I'll give you your money—half of what I took from Bogdan, less my fee for trouble and aggravation—and you're free to go. Agreed?"

"And the boat?"

"You can have the boat too. I don't want any boat. So what do you say?"

No answer. She was going to give me the icy beauty business, stalling for time, and suddenly I got mad.

"Don't fuck with me, Alena. If you don't like it, turn and walk out that door and stop wasting my time. See what happens."

She didn't move. She took a quick drink from her glass. I sighed, took off my wrinkled jacket and threw it in a chair. I sat down and put my feet up on the table.

"Tell me," I said. "How did you end up with a man like him anyhow?"

I yanked that hook and her anger flared, just like magic. "That's really none of your business."

"Are you happy with him?"

She put her drink down. "What are you? Some sort of marriage counselor? Is that what this is about?"

I was betting that she'd rather fuck than talk about her husband, so I let her stew for a moment as I took a drink.

"Take off your dress."

The silence was thick and immediate. I could hear her swallow. She didn't move except to stiffen her back.

My stomach was fluttering as I stood up and walked over to her. I was beat, exhausted, angry and shaking with fear, but she'd been working on me since I first laid eyes on her, and now I got up and walked over to her and stood as close to her as I wanted. Alena lowered her eyes.

I stood behind her. The halter of her dress tied around the back of her neck and I could see the bow through that rich fall of golden hair. Her back was exposed to well below her shoulder blades.

I reached up and my fingers were shaking like I had the DT's. I pushed her hair out of the way and got a whiff of fresh warm female, then fumbled with the knot until I got it untied and threw the two ends down over her chest. Her hands came up and she grabbed the dress just as it fell, trapping it against her chest. It slipped down to the top of her ass, and I was looking at the most gorgeous human back I've ever seen.

"I didn't take that bet lightly," I said. "It was almost twelve hundred euros. And you know what? It was a bargain."

She turned her head as if to look at me, but I didn't want to be seen. I took hold of her shoulders and pressed my lips to the back of her neck and just stood there. I meant to do it only for an instant, just to see what it felt like, but it was like grabbing hold of the third rail of a subway. I couldn't let go

She gave a little inward gasp and arched away from me, but I held her shoulders—her bare, naked shoulders—and I kept her there. My eyes were closed, and for a moment my brain just shut off. I kept my mouth pressed lightly to the back of her neck and stood there, tasting her. I ran my lips from the back of her neck along the soft ridge of her trapezius to the dome of her shoulder, where I stopped. I kept my eyes closed, afraid if I opened them she'd be gone.

I opened my eyes and she was still there.

I closed my eyes again and brought my lips back, this time opening them so I could feel her skin against my teeth, the way you run a pearl across your teeth to find out whether it's real or artificial. She was real. She was so real she had goose bumps.

They talk about time standing still but it doesn't, not really. What it does is thicken and congeal till a second's like an hour and every sense is drum-tight. I could hear the sounds of the traffic through the French doors and hear a woman calling to some child, but here inside time was measured by the progress of my lips down her back and her deep, uneven breathing.

My mouth followed the sweet indent of her spine down her back. I put my tongue out and licked her as I held her still, not caring what she thought. She was sweet and salty like fruit in the sun and there was something mysterious and intoxicating about that taste. I swerved off to one shoulder blade and tasted her there, then the other. I grew bolder and bit her, that soft skin between my teeth. She whimpered and I held her tighter. I held her so tight my hands hurt.

I trailed lower, bending down as I did. I had to let go of her shoulders, and I put my hands on her hips as I got on my knees.

"Don't," she said at last. "Please..."

I wasn't listening. I'd followed her spine down to where it ended and her hips began, and I detoured now to those subtle dimples on either side of her lower back. I gave myself the luxury of pressing my lips against them, mouth open, so I could taste the animal pulse of her body. I kissed her softly, slowly, and deliberately, and then I just pressed my cheek to her back and held her like that.

I don't know how long I held her, kneeling behind her like an altar boy. Too long, because I suddenly felt foolish and stood up.

"Sorry," I said. "I just always wanted to know what it would be like to have a woman like you."

Alena was looking at me over her shoulder. That hardness in her eyes was gone, replaced by a kind of sadness.

"Is this really what you want?" she asked.

"You don't know how much."

She looked away and that seemed to be it. I was trying to think of something else I could do when I heard her say, "Close the curtains."

I wasn't shaking anymore. Since I had tasted her it was like a deep peace had descended over me. I got up and pulled the curtains closed over the French doors, steeping the room in the illicit light of morning shade.

I heard her dress rustle to the floor behind me, and when I looked she was standing with her hands on her shoulders, her arms shielding her breasts, clad only in her panties.

"What do you want me to do?" she asked.

I had no idea. I walked over to her and stood in front of her. "Just put your hands around my neck. Just stand there."

She reached up, betraying her breasts with a confidence I didn't expect, and put her hands on my shoulders.

I should have known she wouldn't kiss me, but I wasn't thinking clearly and so I tried. She kept her eyes closed as I kissed her passive lips. They were parted and expectant but they needed to be coaxed and convinced, as if she'd forgotten how they worked. I was in no hurry now. I slid my hands down her back and cupped them around her ass, vegetable-slick in her silk panties. I pulled her hips against me.

Maybe it was the feel of my hard cock against her stomach. Maybe it was the feel of my shirt against her beautiful breasts, or my hands on her ass, or maybe her lips got tired of doing nothing, but she kissed me then, and she kissed me with the fervor of a woman who hasn't been kissed in a very long time, demanding and frightened and bold and shy all at the same time.

Her hands tightened on my neck as she reached for my mouth. Her nipples bit into my chest and I seemed to grow till I loomed over her and bent her backwards. She wasn't just as good as I'd imagined, she was better. My cock reached for her through my pants like a blind man trying to escape a burning room.

No, I thought. No. This one's too good to fuck. This one has to be loved.

I felt her buttocks clench as she instinctively pushed her pussy at me, and at that all thought evaporated. Maybe it was just reflex on her part, but she ground those tight hips against me and I felt the muscles in her ass clench and it just drove me wild.

We broke the kiss—we had to breathe—and then she put my hands on my chest and tried to push.

No," she said. "No, I can't."

I bent down and picked her up. Without even thinking about it I bent down and picked her up like a groom picks up his bride. She tried to twist away but I held her close and again I got that thrill of using my strength against her, against those frail womanly arms. I held her tight and carried her into the bedroom, staggering just a bit because my legs weren't working properly.

Another man's wife. That's what she was and I couldn't forget it. The knowledge made me desperate.

I dropped her on the bed and she said, "No," again but I could smell her now and my arms were still full of her warmth, my mouth full of her kiss. I wanted to eat her. I wanted to devour her and drink her down but that was impossible. I'd settle for something close though, for worshipping her with my mouth and licking her and sticking my tongue in her and making her come, making her give herself up to me. But when I went down there she grabbed my hair and pulled.

"No! Don't! I can't stand that! It's too much!"

I crawled back up the bed and took her in my arms and she put her arms around me and kissed me hard, as if making up for denying me the pleasure of her sex. She kissed me and then she closed her eyes and raised her face to be bathed in kisses, like you turn your face to the sun after a long time in darkness.

I was all over her. Her breasts were small but exquisite in their shape and sensitivity, and when I sucked her nipples she cradled my head as if she were feeding me. She was just so gorgeous she made me ache.

I stood up and started tearing off my clothes, and she lay there breathing hard, her eyes closed, waiting. I knew the clock was ticking, that I only had so much time before she changed her mind. The morning light was coming through the shutters in bars, striping her body like a prisoner, and I could tell she was already feeling remorse.

I got naked and got onto the bed next to her and took her in my arms, but she turned her face away.

"Jeffrey, I can't." Her voice was excited, breathless. "Let me use my mouth on you. I can do that. I can make it good."

"No," I said. "No. It's you I want. Not your mouth. You, all of you."

"Please," she tried to push me away again but now I'd had enough.

She was another man's wife. Another man's luck and good fortune, his love at one time, and his life. Another man's, and it was always like that. Never mine. Never my women, my life.

I grew frantic and grabbed her wrists. I pressed them down into the bed on either side of the pillow and loomed over her, looked into her eyes and saw them flare with sudden hunger and excitement.

"This is rape," she said. "Holding me like this, it's rape. Is that what you want?"

I was stupid with lust. It took me a minute to realize what she was telling me, and then I tightened my grip on her wrists.

"I'll take it," I said. "I'll take it any way I can get it."

She still struggled, but something had gone out of the fight. Her body had already relaxed into the bed, only her arms still resisted. She balled her hands into fists and tried to escape, tried to free her wrists, but I was so much stronger, it was easy to hold her down. She pushed against my hands, arching her back and testing my strength, wanting to know I was really holding her. Then she gave up, closed her eyes and turned her face to the side. Her chest was heaving. I could see the pulse beating fast in the side of her neck.

I transferred both her wrists to one hand and still easily held her down. I trailed my other hand over her body, taking whatever I wanted: her breasts, her nipples, the tight stomach and the soft warm bulge in her panties. She wouldn't turn her face to me so I kissed her body, her throat, sucked her nipples into my mouth and pressed my fingers to her swollen flesh and made her groan. Being held down had done something to her. I could feel her moisture through her panties.

Her panties. I slid my hand up through the leg hole, curled my fingers over the top and yanked, pulling her ass off the bed. She yelped in alarm. The panties held so I pushed my finger tips against the open fabric and punched up. The fabric was sheer and my fingers broke through, and then it was easy to just shred them. I tore at them like a terrier with a rat..

"Oh God!" she moaned. "Oh God, no!"

With her panties in tatters I rolled between her legs. I held her wrists down hard and my cock searched for her as she raised her hips in an effort to push me off, but all the time her eyes were looking at my hands holding her wrists, first at one and then the other, like she couldn't believe it. I laid my weight on her, driving her ass down against the bed and my cock found her and sunk into that tight, swollen pussy.

It was holding her that did it, the feel of my hands on her wrists, and once I had opened her she thrust her hips up at me to take me deep, and she started grinding against me in hot, hungry circles. She wasn't as weak as I'd thought, not as far as her hips and legs and belly went, and she planted her feet on the mattress and fucked up at me like a cock-starved whore.

"Beautiful bitch!" I gasped down at her. "This is what you need, isn't it? To be held down and fucked hard."

She whined in her throat but her hips never stopped. "No," she whispered. "No, you're raping me. There's nothing I can do! You're too strong...holding me down...making me do it!"

It was some sick game but I didn't care. If she wanted to play rape, that was fine with me. I was riding her hard, no finesse, no tricks or fancy moves, just bone-jarring fucking while she writhed beneath me, sometimes digging her ass into the mattress as if trying to escape, other times pushing up at me as if she couldn't get enough.

We fucked in silence, the room so quiet you could hear the slick sound of my prick working inside her, my growls of hunger and Alena's whimpers of protest and sudden moans of shameful pleasure as I hit a sensitive spot. The look of lust on her that regal face was more than I could stand, and we were like two animals, two people with nothing to lose who had only this conjunction of flesh in flesh to sustain them. That, and the burst of savage pleasure that was thundering down upon us like a herd of wild horses.

"Damn you!" she cried, and now she was engaged in a different fight. She wanted it. There was no doubt in my mind anymore. She wanted it but she wasn't going to let me see that, and so she fought with herself, trying to refuse her own body's desires, but it was no use.

A brief shudder on her part as my cock seemed to grow another inch in size and she gave up. She threw herself into it, not caring what either of us thought of her anymore. There was a lot of strength in that exquisite body, and it all seemed to be designed for sex. I marveled again at what an astonishing idiot Bogdan must be.

"Fuck me, damn you!" she gasped. :Fuck me hard!"

I held her wrists and made her take it, punched my cock into her until she yielded, the strength going out of her legs so that her knees fell open on the bed. I looked down into that angelic face twisted into a mask of pleasure and heard her squeal in shock as her orgasm took her, and then my own come rose up over me like a wall of brilliant black water and came crashing down. I fucked her so deep that my toes dug into the blanket as I pushed and at the last minute I let go of her wrists and grabbed her ass, pulling her pussy up against me and holding her hips like a bowl against the spitting fountain of my cock. My come jetted into her like water from a hose.

"Oh fuck, Alena! I'm coming! Coming in you! Take it! Take it all!"

Alena keened with excitement and seemed to flower open for me, spreading her legs wider, becoming softer somehow, reaching for me in some way I can't explain. I shot into her, shot all my fear and tension and hunger; shot again and again and again into her welcoming, accepting body. Her arms wrapped around my back. Her nails dug in and she clung to me, holding me close, pressing me against her trembling body, close, close...

$ $ $

She lay there with my come seeping from between her legs, staring up at the ceiling, unmoving. I got out of bed, sweat drying on my skin, and lit a cigarette. I offered her one but she shook her head.

There was not much we could say after that performance, but I knew what was going through her head: hatred of me probably, and hatred of herself, and shame and wonder at the way she'd responded. Because she [I]had[/I] responded; responded like an avalanche, like a dam bursting. She knew it, and she knew I knew it, but now there was nothing to say about it. We'd both let our guards down and now they were back up, and as mine went up I got an uneasy feeling that maybe this had been too easy,