Fuzzy Blue Cuffs

Thunder crackled like tinfoil through the outdated speakers on Nia's TV set. Thick torrents of rain plunged from the discolored clouds above the sodden meadow where Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Scarlett Johansson locked both lips and hips in fervent, mud-drenched passion.

Nia refilled Rhys's wineglass first, then her own and eyed the screen skeptically. "I can't imagine wanting to fuck anyone so bad that I'd let him roll me around in the dirt. Especially since five minutes ago they hated each other."

"That's how these things tend to work, isn't it?" Rhys took a long pull from his wineglass. The smoky red lingered on his tongue. Nia brushed her hair, watching the scene like a critic. Or a cynic, Rhys thought.

"I never really got that part," admitted Nia. "I understand wanting to jump in bed with someone you know and really like, but someone that makes you rage?"

"Sometimes they're the same person," said Rhys, who chanced a glance at Nia. Her long, wavy dark hair ran in thick, tangled strands that curtained her round, girlish features. The ghost of last night's black makeup still lingered under her eyes. Still, somehow she smelled like peach blossoms, chlorophyll, and jasmine soap. Her large, bright brown eyes caught him watching her and she smiled shyly, diving into her wine glass.

Rhys had met her three years ago in their freshman year of college. They were invited by mutual friends to the worst party of the year, held in the basement rec room of an acquaintance's grandparent's condo building. There were fifteen guests who had never spoken to anyone but the hostess, a set of decaying furniture that smelt of Werther's and Polygrip, and only enough beer to last until the liquor stores closed.

He'd seen her sitting alone, nursing an oversweet cooler. He asked her what she'd done to deserve such a foul night, and she'd told him "nothing yet". They'd laughed and talked all night, ignoring everyone else in the room. Nia was the easiest person Rhys had ever talked to. No awkward silences. No lost momentum. She was pretty, funny, effortless.

At least she was at first. That was before Rhys met Cody, Nia's dumb ape of a boyfriend. He was 6'3" and built like an industrial refrigerator, with an intellect to match. He had limped through college classes with straight C's. He complained excessively about the ten hours a week he put in at the Student Center, and made a lot of off-color jokes about women, black people and Asians. When Rhys asked Nia why she dated Cody, she would usually change the subject, or excuse away one his uglier remarks.

"What time is it?" Nia asked him, her eyes still locked on the beautiful actors.

"Just after midnight," answered Rhys. "Maybe I should get going?"

"Not yet!" Nia grabbed Rhys's arm and he felt a dizzy thrill tug at him just below his gut. "The movie isn't even over! And you shouldn't drive, you've been drinking."

Rhys shrugged. "Wasn't going to drive. I brought cab fare."

"Don't leave yet. Please." Nia rested her head on his shoulder and sipped her wine. Rhys liked her best when she was buzzed. Not drunk, though she was fun then too. But when Nia was buzzed, she was just more herself. She was apt to act demonstrative and affectionate in a way she never allowed herself to be when sober, especially is Cody was anywhere nearby.

"Well, what if we fall asleep and Cody gets home?" teased Rhys, but there was a hardness to his voice he couldn't disguise. "What if he sees us passed out down here?"

"He knew you were coming over. That there would be wine. He wanted to do his Guys Night thing. Speaking of which, why didn't you go?"

It wasn't as though Rhys hadn't been invited. Most of Cody's friends were Rhys's friends too. They even preferred Rhys's company to Cody's, a fact which Cody was only now becoming dimly aware of. Cody had organized some party van to the casino, and then on an all night pub crawl, ending at the stripclub. Rhys had been keen enough to go, rationalizing that he could avoid Cody easily enough, but when Nia asked him to keep her company, suddenly a night of boozing with dudes and naked dancers lost its appeal.

"I'd rather hang out with you than Cody," Rhys told her truthfully.

Nia smiled and poured him another glass of wine. "I feel the same way. Is that tacky? It must be. You're not supposed to say that shit. I mean, I'm not."

Rhys watched her wine stained lips and the low V of her tight, revealing top.

"Cody likes you though, you know," Nia muttered senselessly. Rhys knew she felt guilty for preferring him but the glow he'd felt when she admitted it now faded to annoyance. Why did she have to defend him? Why now?

Nia smiled, mistaking Rhys's grimace for a smirk. "You know, he kept trying to start fights with me all night before he left. Before you got here." She sipped her wine. "He said some shitty things, wouldn't stop trying to make me mad. Why do guys do that? Did he want me to object to him gambling? Seeing strippers? I honestly don't care."

Rhys sighed heavily. "I don't think you can ask about a guy's motivations when you're talking about Cody. He's atypical."

Nia laid her legs out over Rhys's lap. Their heavy, comforting warmth made him feel lightheaded. He wanted to stroke them, to spread them wide open, but he made himself ignore them. He knew she would sense his desire, his deep longing, with the slightest touch, no matter how platonic.

"He called me 'pathetic' earlier," Nia said quietly. "I don't really know why. Maybe because I refuse sex with him a lot."

Rhys felt a stab of fury confound his equally powerful wave of arousal. He should have gone with Cody after all. This was a waste of time. Nia's flirtations were maddening and her attempt to ascertain his feelings for her were worse. How could she not know that we wanted to throw her down on the rug, or bend her over the coffee table, or make her beg for him over the bathroom sink?

"Well, then he was being an asshole," Rhys told her through gritted teeth. "He does that sometimes."

Nia nodded, suddenly distant. "Yeah. He does."

Cody never abused Nia. Even Rhys could see that. But theirs was an unequal partnership, evident even in their shared townhouse. Cody's manchild taste and whims dominated every room of the house, and in every meaningful way, By comparison, Nia's presence was ghostlike. Her coat was by the door, with her bag and shoes. Her biology textbook was open on the dining room table beside a stale mug of coffee. But the walls, the furniture, the enormous bed, all the movies and more than half the books were Cody's. Cody asked her to move in last year when rent was tight for both of them, on the condition that he didn't have to surrender much of his personal space. She'd thrown out or given away most of her possessions, and yet Cody's overflowed from every inch of every surface. Hulk posters, back issues of softcore magazines, anime babe figurines and long forgotten movies from the 80's. In the living room, apart from her junky TV, the lone evidence of Nia's residence was a pair of blue furry handcuffs that Rhys had bought her at last year's Pride Parade. They'd started out as an absurd joke; she'd hinted to Rhys about her submissiveness several times when she'd been drunk, but rarely remembered afterward. When he bought them for her she'd blushed and hid them in her purse, but at home she kept them in the living room for everyone to see. For him to see.

"Why do you keep turning Cody down?" Rhys summoned the courage to ask, knocking back the last of the red wine. He cringed inwardly, concerned he was setting a worrying precedent. He usually tried to discourage Nia from treating him like some sexless best friend.

"Hmm?" Nia looked back from the passionate sex scene onscreen but averted her eyes immediately. "I don't know. Bad chemistry? Maybe's he's seen too many pornos and thinks that's what sex should be like? Who knows?"

Rhys was sure he knew. Outside the bedroom, Nia was a barracuda. She was sharp and fiery, quick with a punchline or a dismissive remark. But Rhys saw another side. Someone warmer, softer. Nia was a born submissive. Cody was greedy and impatient and easily distracted. Before they'd dated, Nia was a virgin. And now she was bored.

"I'm sorry," Nia said after a few minutes of silence. "I shouldn't talk about this. I'm happy. Our sex life is fine. I can't imagine being as happy with anyone as I am with Cody."

Rhys groaned and pushed Nia's legs on his lap. The fantasy returned to him, as it often did when she put him in this situation. Cody returning at daybreak to find Nia on her knees, sucking Rhys's dick with sloppy, lustful abandon. Cody howling with deranged, animal rage and humiliation. Nia ignoring Cody. She would be too occupied, Rhys imagined. He could feel himself stiffen through his jeans. He stood up, turning his back to Nia to hide his erection.

"Shit, not you too!" Nia cried, standing up too. Rhys could hear the anger in her voice. Good, he thought. A little anger could only help.

"I really should go."

"What the fuck do you want from me, Rhys?"

"You know."

"I really don't. I can't have everyone I care about hate me. Fuck, Rhys, just give me a clue. You never want me to talk about Cody again? I won't. I'm sorry. Whatever it is you want, just tell me. I can't make it better if you make me guess."

"You can't make it better anyway."

"Ugh," Nia snarled. "You sound like him now. Fine. Do what you want, Rhys. Do whatever you makes you happy. That's all I want, you know."

Rhys spun on his heel and grabbed a handful of Nia's dark hair, pulling her down onto her knees on the rough sisal carpet. She gasped, her eyes wide, her gaze darting back and forth between Rhys's and the eye-level bulge in his jeans. Rhys leaned down to whisper in Nia's ear.

"You try to please everyone and you please no one, Nia. Figure out what makes you happy for once."

He let her go and turned to leave.

"Don't go."

Her voice was small, strangled by embarrassment, arousal, and fear. He turned and she was still on her knees, watching him. Her face was flushed but her eyes sparkled even in the gloominess of the living room.

"No," said Rhys, with far more conviction than he felt. "You're drunk."

Nia shook her head. "I'm not drunk. Neither are you. We didn't drink that much."

Rhys stared at her. He could tell she was sober, or at least as sober as he was. A bit of reckless buzz from the wine, but the pleading tone of her voice was authentic. Something real. He locked the front door and closed the gap between them.

He closed her head in his hands. Her jaw was soft, the skin so smooth. She looked away but he could tell by the way she practically vibrated in his hands that she was grateful for his touch.

"You can make it up to me, Nia. You just have to do what I tell you. If something happens you don't want, tell me you're not sorry and I'll go. We might still be friends, but I'll need some time away from you and all this bullshit."

Nia nodded. "What will you do to me?" She squeaked.

Rhys looked down at her. "Take off your shirt. And that shirt."

Nia pulled off her creamy satin t-shirt and shimmied her black pencil skirt down her hips, revealing a matching pink bra and thong. Her breasts were round and heavy, like her hips. The thong was shiny, its color shocking against her skin. Rhys groaned softly and took his belt off, buckling it securely around Nia's neck. Her own groan came when she felt it close. Rhys unzipped his jeans and his throbbing, thick cock protruded. He sat back on the couch and tugged the end of his belt, so that Nia shuffled forward carefully on her knees until he had positioned her between his legs.

"We're going to play a game, Nia. Truth or dare."

Nia swallowed, locking eyes with him and then looking away quickly, her gaze settling on his rigid dick.

"I'm going to ask you a question. If you answer honestly, even if I don't like the answer, I'll fuck you tonight. If you don't answer honestly, you'll get spanked. If you don't want to tell me the truth, then I dare you to see how long you can deepthroat me. Do you understand?"

Nia was shaking, but her eyes were sparkling and her chest rising and falling with excitement. Rhys grabbed her wooden hairbrush from the coffee table and traced it lightly over her ass where the pink fabric parted her cheeks. Nia wiggled her hips and Rhys pulled the leather belt around Nia's neck and her soft, reddish lips parted around his tip.

Her mouth and hot and warm, her tongue smooth and strong and eager to taste him. For a long, exquisite moment, Rhys wanted to hold her just like this; to prolong the first moment of feeling her body as a lover. One reciprocal moment of need before the inevitable complications and disappointment. But whatever she said tonight or after, tonight he would find out the truth, and make her long for this moment just he would.

"The first one will be easy. Do you like sucking cock, Nia?" Rhys asked her.

Nia looked up at Rhys and pulled her mouth off him. Her breath warmed his wet, sensitive dick. "I like sucking yours," she whispered and he smiled, pushing her back down on him, stroking her hair and back.

"Have you fantasized about this before?" Rhys asked, letting her up to gasp "yes!". He held Nia's gaze and she looked away again. "Often?" He asked.

She nodded, licking his shaft and taking him deeply into her throat.

"Good girl," he moaned, stroking her tangled hair. "Now you can tell me why you never look at me, Nia. Ever. You always avoid looking at me. Look at me now and answer."

Nia frowned, her eyes following his, as she took her mouth off him. She murmured a word it took him a moment to comprehend. "Dare."

Rhys stifled his frustration and pushed her head gently but firmly back down on him, thrusting deep into her throat. He counted off the clock on the opposite wall in his head. Ten seconds. She was having a hard time licking him. Fifteen. She was pushing against the hand that held her still. Twenty. He let her up and she gasped for air, drawing in deep, long breaths.

"Would you like to try that again?" Rhys asked. "Or would you prefer a different question?"

"Different question."

"Are you really happy with him?"

"Yes."

The back of the wooden brush cracked against Nia's bare ass and she gasped, her eyes wide again.

"Nine more, Nia," Rhys told her quietly. "Suck me while I spank you and if you're good, they'll be softer."

Nia obeyed at once, sucking and moaning and rolling her tongue up and down Rhys's thick, veined shaft.

"One. Two. Three. Four." Rhys counted off each crack of the brush and then delivered five blows to Nia's other naked ass check. She moaned and cried out around his cock, but did as Rhys told her and focused her efforts on distracting him with pleasure.

He pulled her off him and stroked her flushed face. "No more lies, Nia. If you're so happy,why do you flirt with me? You dressed up because you knew I was coming over. Cody hates pink. And that top. And that shade of lipstick. It was for me, wasn't it?"

Nia nodded, but she wouldn't look at him. Rhys felt a fresh surge of frustration. "Then why? Why flirt with me?"

Nia's face flushed even darker and she squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath. "I can't not. When you tell me I look good, it's like nothing else matters. You notice my effort. You don't take me for granted. I know it's wrong, but--"

Rhys cut her off by thrusting his cock into her throat, but he didn't hold her there. Desire had overwhelmed him. He long believed she was teasing him, but now he wondered if she hadn't just been teasing herself. Her mouth was deliciously hot and wet and she sucked him hard, while he thrust a half dozen times before pulling out. He had to be careful. He may never get another chance to use Nia like this after tonight.

"Why never say anything then? Why not find someone who makes you feel like you matter?" Why not be mine? Rhys added internally.

Nia stared at him, meeting his eyes and holding them and he saw in them a frightening intensity, a raging desire insider her that stormed just below the surface.

"Who else would want me?" Nia said.

"What if I did?" Rhys's throat had gone dry.

Nia snorted "You're too sane. Too smart. Too beautiful for me." She held his gaze and this time it was Rhys who wanted to look away, but he made himself see her then, half naked and supplicating. Exposed to his hunger as well as her own. She was desperate for more.

"Nia." Rhys pushed her mouth back down on his dick and she returned to licking and sucking him with enthusiastic abandon. He let go of the brush and slid his hand over her ass and between Nia's legs, to feel the dampness pooling between her thighs. He pressed her clit lightly and she bucked against him, but he tightened his grip, so that his cock firmly impaled her mouth, but he had full access to her swollen, sensitive clit.

"I'm sorry too, Nia,"Rhys told her and she bucked and moaned against the sensation of the thick cock in her mouth and this skillful finger. "For more than a year I've been seeking you out even though I know I can't have you. I love the time we spend together, but your real life always gets in the way. Then I get angry at you for living it, and I want to tie you up, and then tie you down. I want to make you beg me to come on your tits and your face, to dress you up like a maid or a slave. I want to you to show me you're sorry for all the games. And I want to show you what real happiness can be."

Rhys could tell she was close. She ground against his hand and he pinched her clit between his fingers as she bucked. He was close now too, but he wouldn't finish in her mouth tonight.

She came on his hand, screaming and gasping for breath around his cock, and he pushed her off of him. While she was still in the throes of her orgasm, he crossed the living room in two strides and collected something from the bookshelf before returning to her and kissing her deeply, as she struggled to stand. Her mouth tasted clean, like spring air and raspberries and cream. He helped her to her feet, still mostly clothed himself, and led her by the belt at her neck up the narrow carpeted stairs to the second floor and into the master bedroom.

It was a further shrine to Cody's taste. Her small white dresser took up a few feet of the far wall, along with a pile of her dirty laundry near the closet. But the sheets, drapes, Spiderman posters and wallscrolls of demure but underdressed anime girls were all Cody.

"We shouldn't be in here," said Nia. "He can't find out."

"He won't unless you tell him," said Rhys said calmly, throwing an old towel onto the bed and leading Nia to the edge of mattress. He kissed her deeply again, running his hands over her breasts and waist, down her wide hips and her thick ass. "I want to fuck you, Nia."

Nia looked at him again. This time she looked sad. "What happens after that? I don't want to be nothing to you."

You'll never be nothing to me, Rhys thought, but he didn't dare say it. Who could promise the future? But Nia, his beautiful, wild, strong, clever friend, who made him feel better and worse than anyone had ever known, wanted to know that he wouldn't just use her and then throw her away. He couldn't promise her much, but he could promise her that.

"I don't just want to fuck you, Nia. I want all of you, but not before you're ready. So for now I'll settle for this." He traced the outline of her opening with gentle fingers that made Nia shiver again. "We can circle each other, and drive one another crazy. I'll make it up to you by being the place you can run to when it's all too depressing and hopeless. You make it up to me by obeying me when you come running to me."

Nia returned Rhys's kiss, deep and warm and submissive. Her tongue slid over his, teasing him until he pushed her face down on the bed and climbed on top of her. Rhys opened the cuffs and closed them around Nia's wrists, looping the chain that connected them through the bars of the bed frame. He slid a couple pillows under her hips and the towel between her hips and bed. She tested the cuffs, her features effusive. Rhys knew she wanted him to fuck her like this--needed it, but a thrill of controlling her pleasure made him pause. It was too soon to relinquish the control Nia had given him. Until tonight he had been certain he'd never get it and now he was loathe to let it go before he was ready.