Best Friends

We spent the entire Memorial Day weekend naked and sweaty. While our fellow Texans were barbequing briskets and ribs we were re-enacting the Kama Sutra.

Fourth of July weekend, we actually got dressed and spent the day at Jay's house. Lizzy and Brandi hit it off well and Jay was finally glad to see I was with one woman. Brandi even commented that she was pleased I had settled down. I was impressed that Jay managed to keep his eyes to himself, maybe I wasn't the only one who had changed.

The rest of the summer saw us spending more time with Jay and Brandi, either at my house or Jay's. A few times we all went to Galveston. Lizzy's apartment was just a block from the beach, so we were able to enjoy not having to find parking along the busy street.

Of course the late summer hurricane season brought a lot of nervousness out in people. Many of the old timers were betting on Texas taking a hit. Many said we were overdue. Every time a tropical storm flared people prepared for the worst; either an influx from Louisiana or having to flee themselves.

Labor Day weekend was kind of dampened by the approach of Hurricane Gustav. Many people from Louisiana were pouring into the Dallas area to be clear of its wrath. We got some rain and wind from the storm but it was nothing more than a typical thunderstorm.

A week later we heard of Hurricane Ike's destruction on Haiti. Most of the weather people were predicting that Florida or New Orleans would get the brunt of Ike. Most Texans kept a wary eye on it though.

On Monday they gave a 20% chance that Ike would hit the Houston area. By Thursday officials were telling the residents of Galveston that they should leave, Lizzy came to stay with me until the storm was past.

On Friday the authorities told Galveston residents that staying on the island would be very unadvisable and many of the lower lying areas were evacuated ahead of the storm surge. Stores were emptied out and many residents had left. Friday afternoon Houston residents were told to stay put as it was becoming too dangerous to escape.

My parents called me from Dallas Friday afternoon and asked if I could go to their home and make sure that everything was still OK. They had fled their home four days ago and had gotten a room at a hotel for two weeks. I laughed and told them that no one was being allowed into Galveston, let alone onto the Bolivar peninsula. My mom only sighed and said she hoped everything was OK.

Lizzy and I went to bed Friday night and listened to the howling wind outside. Off and on during the night I awoke to hear my storm shutters banging and rain hammering the walls of my house. That was one of the extremely rare nights we wore any clothing to bed. Not that it mattered.

As I dozed my hand had found its way up and under Lizzy's shirt. She awoke to my fingers rolling her nipple. I awoke to a warm wet mouth on my cock. I reached over and undid her shorts, then I slipped my hand in and my finger found her clit. She arched up at the contact and I took that opportunity to pull her hips toward my head.

She maneuvered over, and then helped me remove her shorts. Once her pussy was over my face she went back to sucking my cock. Despite my tongue flicking her clit and pushing into her wet hole, she always maintained complete control of her pace. She would go agonizingly slow, then up her pace until I felt like my orgasm was eminent. She seemed to have a sixth sense, because she would bring me to the point where the slightest stroke would send me over the edge then stop. She'd pull off and let my orgasm subside, and then start again with agonizingly slow strokes.

I in turn, would flick her clit until her pussy would start to spasm then I'd switch to tongue fucking her slit. That practice never stopped her impending orgasm, but it kept the intensity down. Just as her spasms would start to subside, I'd attack her clit again with vigor rapidly sending her over the edge. I felt her entire body convulse and quiver.

She pulled her mouth off of my cock and spun around. "Oh god baby. I need this now." As she said that she lowered herself onto my raging hard on. I always relished the feel of her velvety inner walls on my cock. "Ooh, yeah."

Once she was fully impaled, she began pumping her hips up and down. I planted my feet and started pumping up into her. Pretty soon she was slamming her hips down as hard as I was able to pump up. She soon began saying "Oh God," over and over again. I knew that as her frequency and pitch increased she was having an orgasm. When she hit her peak, she squeaked like a mouse.

As she peaked, I rolled us over and began driving into her. I could imagine her face in the dark, all red and sweaty, the look of determination that she gets when she's riding the waves. I pounded into her relentlessly, keeping her from coming down. "Oh shit," I said as I felt my own climax building. Lizzy clamped her muscles on my cock.

"Fill me up baby," she cooed. "Fucking fill me with that hot cum!"

Between her words and her squeeze I didn't stand a chance. "Oh fuck," I yelled as my cock shot deep into her. She let out a scream and dug her heels into my ass and clawed my back. I went rigid as jet after jet of cum shot into her. She locked her hands behind my neck and pulled us together and buried her tongue in my mouth.

As our orgasms subsided we collapsed. I stayed inside her as my cock softened, allowing our combined juices to run out of her. "That was nice," she said.

"Nice?" asked. "I thought it was pretty damn good."

"I was pretty terrific wasn't I?" she teased. Her teasing bought her a few moments of tickling. "Stop, stop....ok damn it, you were pretty terrific too."

We kissed as we pulled our shorts back on then cuddled up together. Usually we'd shower after a romp like that, but neither of us wanted to be naked if we had to leave in a hurry.

I awoke at some point later to realize the house was extraordinarily dark. I could still hear the storm raging outside and wondered how much would be left in the morning. I tried to get more sleep but soon gave up that fight. I slipped out of bed, leaving Lizzy's sleeping form under the sheets.

I went to watch some TV and discovered that the power was out. My battery powered radio informed me that Ike had made landfall around 2 in the morning and had already moved inland and was weakening. The reports were bad. Someone had reported that the piers at Galveston were gone and that the Bolivar Peninsula had been under at least twelve feet of storm surge. I didn't go back to sleep that night.

We were without power for five days after the storm. I had stored up enough food to last us a month. We got ice and water daily from different relief groups. Most of the people in line for ice and water had a dazed look about them.

A few days after Ike had passed; Lizzy and I tried to drive to her place to see what was left only to be turned around by authorities who said the interstate was impassible. It was four more days before we were able to make it into Galveston, but by then we'd seen the news stories and aerial shots of the devastation.

We'd also heard about all of the missing people from Port Bolivar. They had rescued over a hundred people and were known to have left more than a hundred more calling for help when the Coast Guard suspended flight operations. I was glad that my mom was an alarmist and had forced my dad to flee early.

When we were finally allowed to go see Lizzy's apartment we discovered that it was gone. There was a huge pile of debris where it had been; the keel of an overturned yacht poked out of the area where her living room had been.

Lizzy's office had fared no better. She had worked in a clapboard building that faced the seawall. It had been painted a bright yellow with green trim and white accents. It had fit in well with the whole motif of the area's businesses. An old fashioned shingle had announced the name of the establishment.

Now the cheery yellow façade was gone. All that was left standing was the front deck, which was tiled heavily toward the street. I held Lizzy as she mourned her losses. We had found nothing in the rubble of her apartment that could be salvaged. I was glad that she had thought to bring all of her irreplaceable stuff to my house with her.

During the effort to find her boss to determine a plan of moving forward, we found out that he was one of the hundreds missing. His body would be recovered two weeks later in the ship channel, still clad in the pajamas he'd worn to bed that night.

My parents' home on the Bolivar Peninsula was also wiped out. When I was finally able to get to their lot all I saw was the pylons. I snapped a few pictures and drove back home. I looked around and struggled to comprehend it all. Just a month ago I had been out there. Mr. and Mrs. Garrett had been painting their house a serene shade of blue. Mr. Preston had been detailing his car while Mrs. Preston and their youngest daughter had been working on the flower beds. The new people right across the road had been measuring and planning for landscaping.

Now as I looked around and all I saw were downed trees, empty lots, and washouts. Over 100 people were unaccounted for, and I hoped that those that I knew were not among them.

Life went on as it always does. Mom and dad heard from their neighbors and all were known to be safe. They were all homeless and waiting on FEMA to stop dragging their heels. Lizzy decided against trying to get aid from FEMA when I invited her to move in with me.

It wasn't a tough move; all of her worldly possessions were already at my house. She was able to buy the rest of what she needed with the money from her renter's insurance.

She was quickly able to find a job near the Johnson Space Center and my work pace picked up as we had to get replacement parts out to damaged refineries. By Halloween our lives were back to normal.

I proposed to Lizzy on New Year's Eve in front of everyone at Jay and Brandi's party. She accepted and we set a June wedding date. We were married the first weekend of June on the beach in Galveston. It looked odd without the piers, but some buildings were being rebuilt and life was pretty much normal.

Shortly after we got back from our honeymoon cruise, I came upon a deal on a house in Seabrook. The house had been damaged during Ike and was being sold for pennies on the dollar it was worth. After surveying the house with a contractor friend I bought it and over the next few months I spent every spare minute I had refurbishing the house.

We moved in at the end of August and settled in nicely. We were able to cut thirty minutes off of Lizzy's commute and only added five minutes to mine. All was fine and dandy until two years ago when Jay called me into his office.

"Carey why are you still a floor grunt?" he asked me as I entered his office.

"Cause Loren just won't let me have his job," was my smart assed reply.

"Seriously. Haven't you ever considered trying to move up in the company?"

"Jay you know me. I don't play well with guys who expect me to suck their dick. The only reason you and I talk is our history. Management doesn't like me because I won't pull out the pom-pom's and scream 'Rah Rah Rah' every fucking time someone talks about this company."

Then he laid it on me. "Carey, I'm moving up another notch. I'll be just below Loren and all of the floor managers will report to me. I want you to take one of the new floor manager jobs."

"Why do I get the feeling there is a big dick coming into this conversation soon?"

"The position does require more travel."

"The position does require more travel." Those words echoed through my head the rest of the day and all the way home. As it was I had to travel at least once a year, as every shop grunt had to go play service technician once in a while. I even used what Renee's therapist boyfriend had even helped me enough to allow me to go to a bar or two with the other guys from the job. I stopped and got a twelve pack of Bud on my way home. Lizzy saw the beer and said "Uh oh. Did we have a bad day at work my sweet?"

I went to her and gave her a kiss. "Yeah, I got offered a promotion."

"Yay! So the beer is to celebrate!"

"Not exactly. I'm not sure I like the offer."

I then told her all about my conversation with Jay. "Traveling is fun honey. I don't know why you don't enjoy it. If it didn't mean being away from you I'd find a job that required more travel."

"Yeah," I said. "Travel is fine when you go to places like New York, or Milan. I get to go to shit holes like Prudhoe Bay Alaska and Chum Creek Alabama. Only scenery I get to see on my travels is covered in pipelines and sweaty assholes with their ass cracks showing."

"Well I think you'll make a sexy manager, and you'll be less sweaty when you get home at night."

"Until you make me sweaty that is," I said as I began advancing on her. She squealed and ran up the stairs and I gave chase. The next morning I told Jay I would take the job. To this day I regret ever saying yes.

I found that the only thing better than the TSA groping was the financial debrief Loren's brother and accounting manager, Walt put you through when you turned in your expense report.

I had to stand there and explain once why I had an extra cup of coffee on my expense report once. "I bought the service tech a fucking cup of coffee," I told Walt. Then I pulled four quarters from my pocket and slammed them down on his desk. "Don't worry about it Wally, that cup is on me."

That afternoon ended by me walking off the job after Loren and Jay read me the riot act for being a dick to Walt. Jay came to my house that evening as I was perusing the help wanted ads to beg me to come back. I went back the next day. The next time someone had to travel they had to read a rules list for spending company money while on the road.

At least I knew if I was on the road and had an issue at home Jay could be depended on to help. During my last road trip a valve on the toilet had jammed and flooded the bathroom. Lizzy had called me in a panic and I told her I'd call my dad and have him go fix it. Her dad had trouble operating a plunger.

My dad wasn't home so I called Jay. He told me he'd go fix it and help Lizzy clean up. I called Lizzy back and told her that help was on the way. That evening when I called Lizzy she seemed tired, but told me that Jay had been a god send and had helped clean up all of the water. I hated having to travel, but I loved the "welcome home" sex marathons

When you hang the title of manager on a floor guy, it is like gelding a stallion. The mares, or floor grunts don't want anything to do with you. As far as they're concerned you have gone to the other side and are no longer trustworthy. Plus you feel like an asshole if you have to come down on a guy for doing something that you yourself had done for years. The stallions or other managers don't really look at you as an equal.

At least Loren and Jay had the foresight to put me in charge of a different group of guys than I had worked with, but unfortunately the group had the highest number of failures in the field so I was tasked with improving that stat.

For the first six months I was immersed in learning the processes used in my groups' day to day work. I immediately tried to improve a few tasks I saw as moronic and useless. This ended up with me butting heads with engineers almost on a daily basis.

Finally one day I told Loren and Jay if they wanted me to appease the egg heads that I would tender my resignation on the spot. I knew the design engineers didn't like people poking holes in their processes, but most of them knew little of how things were done on the floor. By time all was said and done, I had an engineer as a liaison between me and the rest of the engineers.

Loren had also, although begrudgingly, given me carte blanche budget considerations, deciding that whatever I spent to fix issues in plant would translate to fewer field failures later.

Just as I got the ball really rolling, someone decided I needed to view more field failures to make sure I was implementing the right fixes. In the past year and a half I have been sent out of town at least once a month, sometimes twice.

But this trip really pissed me off. Jay always had a smirk on his face when he gave me these travel orders. I think he just gets off on knowing he can inconvenience me. This time was different.

Since Hurricane Ike had pummeled us in 2008 we'd had the good fortune of avoiding the nameable storms. There had been a scare or two, but nothing to make people evacuate.

But for some reason people had been on edge since tropical depression 147 formed two days prior in nearly the same place as Ike had formed in 08. She was moving slowly but meteorologists were keeping a close eye on her. In a few days, tropical depression 147 bloomed into Hurricane Kate.

I told Jay that I wasn't happy with being sent out again so soon. It was three days away from home when I wasn't comfortable being away. He argued that Kate was still in the south Atlantic and likely wouldn't ever amount to much, and even if she did she wouldn't even be to Haiti by time I got back.

"You better have my replacement hired by time I get back," I said as I ripped the itinerary out of his hand. . I intended to stay on long enough to get my trip expenses paid and then I was looking elsewhere. He didn't chase after me asking me to reconsider so he either thought I was joking or he didn't care.

When I landed in Fairbanks two days later Hurricane Kate was already bearing down on Haiti. I smiled at the possibility that Jay might have to travel down there to help our service people repair damage. I knew it wasn't going to be me. I'd already had a job offer from EXJ's largest competitor. The commute would be a little longer, but I would be paid more and I wouldn't have to travel.

I had worked several times before with the foreman in Fairbanks. He seemed surprised that EXJ would send someone again. "I don't know why you're here. You guys have all seen these failures before," he told me.

"I don't know either. I just looked at a set of them three weeks ago."

"It would be cheaper just to send the failures back to you guys to see instead of flying up here all the time."

"Maybe my replacement will implement that," I thought.

I turned the news on in my room that evening and learned that Haiti had been devastated by Kate. She was now a category 3 storm and was predicted to sideswipe Cuba and possibly head to Mexico. I called home and talked to a sleepy Lizzy, and then went to sleep myself.

The news the next morning was a little disheartening. Kate had changed course during the night and was projected to hit Cuba head on. The new models had her hitting northern Mexico now. I then went and spent a boring day watching guys change valves and motors.

The news that evening was even worse. Kate was pummeling Cuba and now the NOAA had opened up to the possibility that she might head for the Texas coast. I cursed Jay as I dialed Lizzy's cell phone and got no answer. I figured she was asleep already.

I tried to call her in the morning and still got no answer. When I figured the time difference I realized she was probably at work. I then headed out for my last day of Alaskan boredom. I spent most of the day thinking if I ever returned to Alaska I'd have to bring fishing gear.

That night I called home again and got no answer. I tried the land line and also got no answer. To say I was worried would have been an understatement. My next move was to call Jay. Just as I went to call him my cell rang. The caller ID said it was Mrs. Jay, which is how I had Brandi's cell listed in my phone. I was able to answer with a calm voice.