Chapter 21Nick
Chapter 21
Nick
OCTOBER | Tarot: Two of Cups
We were made for each other.
Two people, broken by relationships. Queer. Broken by society and expectations and demands.
And in a way, she broke me. She was a dream, then disappeared from my life, only returning when she was forced to do so. And I chased after her like a dog dropped off outside town. Begging for her to give me another chance. Begging her to care for me.
I believed that she did, deep down. She wouldn’t be there, stroking my hair, cooling my skin with her own, if she didn’t care at all.
But it was complicated. Annie needed me so she could earn a decent living.
She needed me one way. I needed her in a totally different way.
That’s why I wondered if it was a fever dream when she said, “I’ll help you out, Nick.”
I lifted my head from its very comfy perch between her boobs. “What?”
“I’ll help you. With the sex stuff.” Her voice quivered. “But we can’t tell anyone.”
My eyes stung and felt hot. Whether that was the fever or the feelings, I couldn’t be sure. “I don’t want your pity. I don’t want you to feel used either.”
“Oh, I won’t be used. You’re going to get it right this time,” she said, wetting her lips. “But it can’t be more than physical. I can’t lose my job. I hope you can understand that.”
I nodded. “I get it. I just need help being better at it. And I want the first time to be with someone I trust.”
She snorted softly. “Shocked you trust me after I’m the reason you got embarrassed in the first place. But yeah, I can teach you how to fuck.”
“I think teacher-student role play sounds pretty fun,” I chuckled, then started into a coughing fit.
I sat up to take a sip of water. Even with the ice in it, it felt like I was swallowing thousands of shards of glass. A tear came to my eye and I whined. “It hurts so bad.”
“I’m so sorry, bub,” she said, rubbing my back. Then she held me to her chest, her gentle hands soothing me. Her lips met my shoulder. Her sweetness was disorienting. She’d kissed my forehead, my hair, and now my shoulder. I couldn’t decide if it was just a caring touch or romantic, but it felt nice. For a while, we were just quiet. I chanced a glance back at her to find she hadn’t gone back to sleep.
“Let me see if Kitty texted me back.” She snatched her phone off the nightstand and coughed out a laugh. “You’re not going to believe this.”
I hummed miserably.
“The kids had hand, foot, and mouth.”
“What the fuck?” My throat immediately retaliated at my outburst. I whispered my next sentence. “That thing cows get?”
“I think that’s hoof and mouth,” she said.
“Is this fatal? Call my mom, please!”
Annie laughed. “I don’t think it’s fatal, babe. I was just going to do an internet search, but I can call your mom if you really want me to. Won’t we be waking her up?”
“She’s a night shift nurse. She might answer. Can you get my phone?”
Annie wiggled out from behind me to retrieve it off the charger. I pulled up FaceTime and Annie shielded herself from view.
“Nick, I don’t have a shirt on! This is your mom!”
“It’s a sports bra. And she’ll be thrilled, trust me,” I said as Mom picked up.
“Nicky? What’s going on?”
“I’m sick, Mom. I got what those kids had. Hand, foot, and mouth.”
“Nicholas John, you are twenty-one years old and you still haven’t learned how to wash your hands?”
Annie stifled a laugh.
“Who’s with you?”
I put the camera over my shoulder to put Annie on the screen. “This is my friend, Annie. Say hi, Annie.”
“Hi,” she said with a wincing smile. “Nice to meet you.”
“Annie, I’m Krystal. Nick, you’ve got an awful lot of pretty friends. That Dylan was cute, too,” Mom said. “Are you two in bed together?”
“Mom,” I moaned.
“How the hell did you get hand, foot, and mouth? Did they sneeze in your mouth?”
I scrubbed my hand over my face. “Bella fed me a Goldfish in the middle of the night, and it might have been a little wet.”
Annie and Mom both chastised me. “Ew, Nick!”
“Thanks a lot,” I grumbled, then grabbed my throat.
“Nick’s convinced he’s going to die, Mrs. Oberbeck. He wants to hear from you that he won’t.”
Mom cackled, calling over one of her friends at the nurse’s station. “Penny, come see. Nick’s got a girl in his bed and thinks he’s going to die from hand, foot, and mouth.”
Another face appeared in the frame, my mom’s longtime friend and my pediatrician, Dr. Penny Grote. “You’re not going to die, Nicky. Your throat will hurt for a week or so, but you’ll be back on your feet soon.” She took a longer look, squinting. “And your girlfriend’s beautiful.”
“A week?!” I squeaked.
“Oh, baby, I’m sorry. I know that one hurts, usually worse for adults than kids. Take some Tylenol and get some sleep. And Annie?” Mom said.
“Yes?”
“Thanks for taking care of my baby.” She looked like she was holding back a laugh. “But for the love of God, don’t kiss him.”
* * *
I woke up in a pool of sweat to the sound of running water in the bathroom. Annie’s sweet scent filled the air. A glance at the clock showed it was around 6:30 a.m. She was getting ready for work.
My night had been fraught with weird fever dreams. Had I dreamed she said she would teach me how to fuck? It seemed real.
Annie came out of the shower in a towel, her long hair piled on top of her head. She smiled broadly when she saw me awake. “You’re up. How are you feeling?”
“I think my fever broke. Maybe I can play the game tonight,” I said. I shuffled to get up.
“What are you doing getting up?”
“Greg needs to go out.”
She cocked her head to the side, approaching the bed and putting the back of her hand to my forehead. “One, I already took him out and fed him. Two, that’s the Tylenol talking. You’re still sick, buddy. Let’s see how you do after you get through some hours without it.”
I grumbled, tugging at the edge of her towel. “Take pity on a sick man? Show me a little more skin?”
She gave me a scathing look. “You don’t need any excitement, Mr. Oberbeck. You need to get better.”
“Didn’t we make a deal? You’re gonna be my little sugar mama?”
She chuckled. “I think then I’d have to be paying you. I’m absolutely certain you have more money than me.”
“No, you give me the sugar, and you’re a little mama, right?”
“I believe sugar is money. I’d give the sugar and you’d pay my bills if you were my sugar daddy. You need to brush up on your phrases,” she said, cocking an eyebrow.
“Sorry, not all of us are big-city lawyers. Have mercy on me. I’m but a simple country boy.”
She narrowed her eyes at me with a smirk and a laugh. “Country boy? Where are you from in Indiana?”
“Bloomington.”
“Well, country boy, I think your little city is probably bigger than mine,” she said, jostling my leg through the blankets. “You’re certainly funny this morning.”
She stood up to walk to her bag, but I caught her wrist.
“Please, teacher. I need something to help me get better so I can get lessons.”
She lowered her voice, getting a sly smile. “You’re going to have to be a good boy and behave if you want lessons.”
“I’ve been so good, teacher,” I said, grinning.
She strutted over to her bag on the floor. With a coy peek over her shoulder, she dropped her towel. “Oops.”
I gasped. “Now that’s what I’m talking about. You’re so gorgeous, Annie.”
She bent to get her clothes out, giving me an open view of her perfect ass and a glimpse of her pussy. Obviously, I’d seen it before, but in the dark. She made a show of dragging her thong up her legs, keeping her hands moving to cup her breasts.
“That feel good, angel?”
She bit her lip and raised her eyes to mine. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
Someone putting on clothes had never been so hot. She slid on a lacy bra that didn’t exactly match her underwear, but looked unbelievably sexy.
“Fuck, Annie. You expect me to act normal around you when I know that’s what you wear under your clothes at work?”
Her smirk was salacious. “Put on a mask, Nick. I’m coming over there.”
I scrambled to get a clean mask off the nightstand. Just in her bra and underwear, she slipped on her heels and slinked over to the bed, stopping at the foot of the bed to crawl up on it. With her ass out, she accentuated each pace she crawled like she was some kind of tiger sex goddess. If I were a cartoon, my eyes would have bugged out of my head with my tongue dragging on the ground. Was this why people went to strip clubs?
But a strip club wouldn’t have Annie. And that’d be a real shame.
I whimpered as she approached me, desperate. She stuck out her bottom lip. “Did you just coo? Like a little dove, crying out for me?”
My breathing was ragged as I reached for her, my cock stirring in my pants despite being sick. She shook her head to stop me touching her. Her voice was a low drawl, her face hanging in front of mine. “You’re gonna behave for me, little dove.”
I gulped, less painful now that I had medicine. “Yes, ma’am.”
“You get one grab. What’s it gonna be?”
I cupped her lace-clad breast, sliding the other to her ass.
“Uh-uh,” she said. “I said one grab. When you’re all better, you’re gonna pay for that.”
“Looking forward to it,” I said, my mask covering my grin. She slid off my bed to my whine. “Who’s gonna keep me warm today? You can’t go to work.”
“Am I supposed to tell them that I’m tending to my client?”
“I am your client. And your highest-dollar one, no? Surely my health and happiness come first.”
“Don’t get cocky, Ober. I’ll get one richer than you, yet.”
She buttoned her blouse and tucked it into her skirt, topping it with a cardigan.
“None of those sexy tights today?”
She shrugged. “Nah. I got a space heater for my office. I’m all set now.”
Why was I hatching a diabolical scheme to steal her space heater? I watched her put on her makeup and wind her golden hair into an elegant bun in the bathroom.
“I’ll miss you today,” I called.
“Just get better. Call the team doctor today and have them check on you,” she said, sitting on the edge of my bed again, fully dressed for work. “I hope you feel better. You scared me last night. Call me if you need anything.”
I traced a finger down her arm. “And our little arrangement?”
“Starts when you’re all the way better. I don’t want this disease.”
“Yes, teacher.”
I could do this. It was a strange situation. I needed to have my heart involved, but my head knew Annie and I would just be friends. I could get better physically while maintaining a friendship. It wouldn’t be a relationship. We’d both be scratching an itch, while emotionally trusting each other. Nothing more.
Because that’s all we could be.