This is a work of fiction; any resemblance of a character to any person, living or dead, is unintentional. The stories in this series are set in the early 1990s.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The windshield wipers were pretty much shot on the trade-in minivan as I neared the used car lot, so I hoped what I glimpsed through the greasy streaks on the windshield was not what I thought I was seeing.
A young blonde scurried out of the side door of the small sales office in the center of the lot, flinching in the rain as she pulled the hem of a halter top down with one hand and tugged at the ass crack of her jean shorts with the other.
Was that Katelyn, my girlfriend? Two scraping passes of the wipers, smearing more rainwater, and she was gone around the back of the building. My heart fluttered against my stomach; I didn't know what that signaled, but instinct told me it was an alert coming from my fear center.
I flicked on the turn signal and pumped the brakes, which were definitely going to need some attention from Haskell before Russ agreed to put it out on the lot. As I reached the first entrance, that "insecurity alert" sent an override to my feet, and I let off the brake and goosed the throttle toward the entrance at the far end of the lot.
Pulling in, I drove the long way around the lot to the back of the sales office. That allowed me to scan the rows of cars, and then out across the side street. No sign of Katelyn. Maybe I was imagining things. But my gut churned with a sense that these games with Russ had just spiraled to a new level -- a level that crossed from the embers of fantasy to a full-grown fire that I couldn't control.
I parked the car in the back of the building, in front of the one service bay door. It was open, with a car on the hoist; Haskell glanced over from his work beneath it. A smile creased his dark, leathery face, and he shot me a "thumbs up." The gesture and the grin just churned my unease even more.
I jumped out of the van and jogged to the opening of the garage through the light rain. "Hey, Haskell.... You didn't happen to see Katelyn here, did you?"
"Katelyn, your girlfriend?" He glanced away from his work to meet my eye, and then turned his gaze back upward again. "Now why," he said, pausing to grunt with exertion on a bolt above him, "why would Katelyn be here?"
My mind had gone to a bunch of paranoid places to answer the "why," and Haskell's non-answer answer didn't help. "I dunno, thought I mighta saw her," I said. "No worries." I walked into the bay and past Haskell, toward the door that led into the sales office. I glanced at the cupboard to the left of the door, and felt a pang of relief that the door to it was closed and padlocked.
"Hey, Petey," Haskell said, and I whirled around probably a bit too fast.
"Yeah?"
"What's the road test report on that van? I'm guessing that will be my project for the rest of the week."
"Uh, yeah. Brakes, for sure. The windshield wipers are useless. There's a wobble coming from the back right, not sure if it's a bent rim or something worse."
"Could always be something worse," he said, turning back to his work.
"Sure could," I sighed, and walked through the door into the hallway leading to the sales office. I passed the employee bathroom/showerroom on the right, and then the alcove with the coffee maker, small fridge and sink. Then, on the left, two office windows in succession, each with the blinds drawn. That sent a shiver down my spine that weakened my legs. Russ's office, with the blinds closed.
The hallway opened into a small waiting room, which as usual had no one waiting. I turned left at the corner, passed the other window to Russ's office, and then exhaled nervously as I came to the open doorway. Russ leaned forward onto his elbows, which were anchored on the desk, and his stubbled chin was resting on his hands, their fingers interlocked. The top button of his short-sleeve white work shirt was undone, his tie was loose, and I could see a reddening and sheen of sweat at the base of his neck.
"That was a long trip to the Mother Ship," he said, referring to the new-car dealership one town over.
I couldn't breath; it felt like I had to heave to get each word up out of my throat. "Was that Katelyn I saw leaving the building?"
A glimmer of amusement seemed to crease the hardened features on Russ's face. The hairline below his crew cut rose a bit with his eyebrows as he expressed mock wonderment, and he shook his head slightly, slowly.
"What did you THINK was going to happen," he said. "You've had all summer to see what talk turns into."
I exhaled as if I'd been stomach-punched, and looked down, pondering everything, After several seconds, I heard the squeak of the caster wheels on Russ's office chair, and I slowly looked up and saw what I expected to see. Feared to see.
Russ now was upright and back in the chair. When he made sure I was looking, he straightened his arms against the edge of the desk and rolled back toward the wall. He was naked from the waist down, except for black dress socks, and his mostly flaccid cock lolled like a stuffed sausage overhanging the chair between his thighs. It glistened from its bulbous uncut tip all the way into the dense patch of salt-and-pepper pubic hair, which was matted with the greasy aftermath of sex.
When the the chair was against the wall, Russ leaned back and put both hands behind his head. He planted his feet at 45 degree angles from his groin. "Plenty of time to talk later. You know what to do."
I swallowed the distaste in my throat, and, as if directed by an unseen controller, felt myself moving toward the opening in front of Russ's sex. I dropped the keys to the minivan onto his desk, and sank to my knees.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I'd turned 18 the week after commencement, and the fun of nonstop parties in the wake of getting out of high school was halted abruptly by my mother one bleary Saturday morning at the kitchen table.
"You have an interview at 8 a.m. Monday," she said matter-of-factly from the coffeemaker.
"An interview? For what?" I said, looking up from my cereal bowl.
"A job. You want to stay here rent-free this summer, you're going to work." She came and sat next to me at the table. "It's fine if you don't want to work. But if you're not working, the rent is $250 a month."
"Whaaa, wait..." I began, before getting her point. "Ah. Ha. All right, all right. What kind of job?"
My mother worked in a real-estate title office in our small town. She was the supervisor for that office, which was part of a larger franchise.