Fate's Embrace Ch. 11

Chapter Eleven

Joe and Jenny decided to brave the cold water shower, but when Joe experimented with the hot water, it belched and put out some nasty looking brown water before it became clear.

"Cool," said Jenny, and Joe adjusted it to a bearable heat before they shared it. It got cold by the time they rinsed.

"I guess we'll be soaping up with the water off," Joe decided.

"Yep."

They got dressed in their Max's uniform and headed to the subway that would eventually get them fairly close to Max's.

"We need to talk," Joe told Gene as soon as they arrived.

"Get your food and I'll meet you in the back room," Gene sighed.

Once the two settled onto a table to eat, Joe realized he didn't have the schedule. "Shit," he said.

"What?" Jenny asked.

"When are the shows?"

Jenny smirked and pulled out a folded piece of paper from her purse. She ended up handing Gene the paper when Gene sat immediately after.

"What's this?" Gene asked.

"I didn't know things would be happening so soon," Joe apologized.

"It's the tour of the dance company I'm in," Jenny explained.

"You didn't know?" Gene asked.

"No," both Jenny and Joe replied.

"If it's Jenny's dance company...," Gene started.

"The head of the company insists I accompany her," Joe said. "We're actually collaborating on the next show."

"Among other things," Jenny said quietly so that Joe only heard. Looking at her, he saw the most complicated expression he'd ever seen on her face, especially for how uncomplicated she tended to be. She squeezed his hand as if to say something like "Later," or maybe, "It's okay." Complicated.

"So you'll be available this week and next?" Gene asked.

"Yes," they both said.

"Would you mind working a full five days?" Gene asked.

"Sorry," said Jenny. "It'll be hard enough waking up early tomorrow."

"Not you Jenny. A couple of the waiters wanted some time off. I didn't want to say no, and if you work a couple more nights..."

"Sure, Gene," Joe said. "As much as you want."

"Six nights?"

"Sure."

"Great!"

"You're not firing me?" Jenny asked.

"Tempting but no," Gene smiled.

"Thanks."

"So during the tour...?" Gene asked.

"Probably not," Joe said. "I think we'll be going from city to city."

"Let me know when you're back."

"Thanks Gene."

"No guarantees."

"Of course not."

"You've always been one of the better workers, and willing to bus and wash dishes...Let's just say your flexibility is a plus."

"Glad to hear."

After Gene left, Joe sighed. "That went better than expected."

"Gene's cool," said Jenny.

"He sort of defines it," Joe chuckled.

Thursdays tended to be the busiest of the weekdays, sort of the locals time to party before what everyone called the bridge and tunnel crowd, the ones from New Jersey and Long Island, invaded on the weekend. This night proved not to be an exception, and the band upstairs, the Scientists, a white reggae band far better than that sounds, had a significant fan base, so that kept Jenny busy as well. Joe bussed and washed dishes, keeping busy throughout. He got his ten percent (or however much the waiters were willing to pay him) and Gene paid him the low hourly wage from the week before, also in cash. Jenny definitely made more upstairs. It wasn't a contest. Joe was pleased at Jenny's happiness at her gain.

She spent some of it on the cab ride home, including the time waiting for Joe to pick up take home food from Katz on Houston.

Despite the gin gimlets, it took time to wind down. Time taken, after another quick shower mostly for Joe's benefit, making love slowly and tiredly and successfully and not just in them passing out after.

They awoke when the alarm went off far too early. Jenny insisted he sleep and he happily accepted her insistence, waking up at ten.

He thought about finishing up typing the long poem for Carol but instead decided to head uptown. There was a dime bag of heroin awaiting him. He had no intention of shooting up then or maybe never, though he doubted that would happen. Instead he wanted to collect it along with his works and whatever else he'd left there for changing when he and Jenny planned to stay there and use the shower. But the shower worked at the studio, so, except for convenience, walking crosstown and not taking subways or cabs downtown, there really was no excuse to remain in that environment of temptation. He'd grab his stuff and leave the key. He hoped none of his roommates would be up yet, especially Gail.

Unfortunately Gail had her door opened. She sat on her bed, a notebook in her lap, writing. She looked especially pretty, probably her wide smile.

"Hey Joe," she said somewhat quietly. The roommates slept in the next room.

Joe stepped into her room. "What are you working on?"

"Richard Hell finally let me interview him. He was an asshole about it of course, but I guess I outlasted him, hanging with his band, conversations bringing him out somewhat."

"That's great," Joe said and meant it.

"Being a persistent bitch has its merits," she laughed. "Want to hear?" She had a small reel to reel beside her.

"No that's okay. I was just going to grab some stuff. Uhm, you wouldn't happen to have some cocaine?"

"I do! I actually figured you'd want some for a speedball."

She bounced off the bed and opened a drawer of her dresser. The long t shirt she wore which teased a glance at her panties but was just long enough to hide them settled against her thighs, but shaped around her ass while her nipples pressed out higher and on the other side.

"I hadn't planned...Thanks." She handed him some folded aluminum foil. "What do I owe you?"

"Paid in full...unless..."

"I wasn't going to shoot up just now."

"Oh."

"Come along."

She followed him to his bedroom. He sat her down on the bed and pulled off her t shirt. His hands went for her breasts while he knelt and kissed up her thigh.

"Wait," she said. "I feel dirty."

"Shower?"

"Yes."

"Can I join you?"

"You can try," she laughed.

It was a tight fit, really not enough room, but they managed, cleaning parts of the other they wanted clean and kissing. Her work getting his cock clean got him hard. He found her pussy to be dewed by her own juices.

They made quick work of drying before she lay on the bed. He returned to his interrupted journey, hands on breasts and mouth working up her thighs to her sexual center, this time kneeling between her legs on the bed.

She moaned when his tongue finally reached her labia, but it took a while, tiring his mouth, no teasing her to the edge and backing off because getting her close was hard enough.

Her release ended up intense though. Getting to the last licks, his head actually had to hold her down while she squirmed, and then she actually shook with it and shivered, her face practically in rictus holding back any sound.

He quickly grabbed the condom already close by and had it rolled on in seconds before pushing into the roomy, sopping wet place and fucking her with long deliberate strokes, his mouth moving to her nipples aided by his hands. Her hips eventually began moving counter to his strokes, urging him to go faster until they were banging together hard and fast. Again it seemed to take longer than he'd expect to feel any need for release. When her second orgasm arrived he decided to just fuck her as hard and fast as possible, his hand on her ass now pulling into his thrusts, and finally, eyes closed, focused on the friction, and more of it when she achieved another orgasm and he felt the squeezes and buzzes inside her, he found that release, and like her with that first orgasm, it ended up being in its delay surprisingly intense, almost painfully so.

"Fuck Joe," she murmured. "I thought it was the dope, but you're just a fuck machine."

They laughed weakly. He moved off her keeping the condom on. He sat up. "Gail. I'm here to grab the rest of my stuff. I'm not coming back."

"I'm glad I had my door open then," she replied.

"Me too."

He wasn't being honest, but she didn't notice or didn't care.

She did sniffle though. "I should really try sex without being coked to the gourd. I thought I was frigid until you..."

"My pleasure," he said, this time being honest. Even if he'd tried to avoid it, it was definitely pleasurable.

He got up and pulled things into the backpack he'd brought. Not a lot of stuff but enough to fill it substantially. He showed her, remaining in bed and watching him, the packet of cocaine. "You sure?" he asked.

"Take it," she insisted. "I'm just going to lay here and watch that cute ass of yours. File it away for future use," she laughed.

He turned to her and chuckled. "Even better," she grinned. "But let's get rid of that poor sagging thing."

She beckoned him over, removed the condom and gave his penis a kiss. "Goodbye brave soldier." He handed her a Kleenex to put the used condom in.

She watched him until he put his clothes on. "Here's the key," he said.

"Put it on the table," she said, getting up and getting dressed.

They hugged and kissed quickly before she followed him out, locking the apartment door after him.

He arrived at his new home in the midst of the dancers' break. "I got you a sandwich and coke," Jenny said tiredly, giving him a kiss. "What's that" she asked.

"Gail," he admitted.

"Your roommate?"

"Ex-roommate. I went to collect my shit and she was there."

"You fucked her? I didn't think she was into you."

"Me either, but when I got high the other night we ended up fucking."

"And she liked it enough for an encore."

"Pretty much. The first time I was high on dope so it took forever to finish which she very much liked. This time it took almost as long."

"Heroin makes you last longer?"

"Pretty much. It desensitizes."

"Hunh. And the second time?"

"She's got a roomy pussy," Joe shrugged.

"Maybe that's why Mark couldn't cum, him being high on opium, besides me being the wrong sex."

"A definite possibility."

"Hunh. Carol said I could skip the afternoon session. I wasn't at my best today. Next Friday she said to sleep in and join them when I'm rested."

"Surprisingly generous of her."

"Isn't it," she chuckled. "You want to join me napping after you finish your sandwich?" She ate her last bite.

"Sure."

"I'm going to grab a quick shower with our brand new hot water."

He finished his lunch by the time she returned and got naked with her when they climbed into the bed. They kissed and hugged under the blanket, getting him half hard. With a giggle and a pat of his cock, she turned over and he spooned her while she slept. And he joined her sleeping.

She remained asleep when he awoke fully erect. With a sigh, he kissed her head and slipped out, putting on boxers and a t shirt and walking through the storage area and into the toilet area to piss and wash his face.

He worked on his writing until she awoke, asking "What time is it?" while stretching cutely.

"I was about to wake you up," he told her.

She got up and looked at the clock and nodded. They had time so they leisurely dressed in their uniforms and walked comfortably to the subway. They still arrived early, so they took their time eating the free meal before heading their separate ways for work.

Johnny had a weekend gig, so it was busy and would be busy Saturday as well. Johnny didn't fill other venues in town like he did Max's. It was like his home, and everybody that was anybody wanted to see him there. The upstairs, long and narrow, really worked with his brand of rock and roll, straight ahead and loud and as tight as his relative sobriety allowed.

He came in relatively sober, meaning probably enough heroin to get him straight, though he did nod into his stuffed flounder served by Joe since Joe tended to be his waiter, getting him extras like the coke float Joe made him with a shot of brandy. Nobody else wanted to deal with him, so though Joe was actually being a busboy, the other waiters made the concession. There was no reward to it, no tip, Johnny putting it on his tab, accepted by Gene, but Joe did like John and enjoyed the goofy, slightly transgressive requests.

"You still off the stuff?" John asked him before ordering.

"Working on it," Joe admitted.

John gave him a smirk. "So you might go downtown tomorrow?"

Joe felt a surge go through him. He really wanted to score, but that in itself he quickly realized was reason enough not to.

"I have plans," he told John.

"You sure? I can stop by your place tomorrow."

"I don't live there anymore."

John ordered the fish after a brief flash of disappointment.

Joe worked his ass off that night which made the night go fast. Besides John it was all bussing and hauling beer up to the downstairs and upstairs bars. Jenny was busy enough herself to just exchange smiles when Joe went upstairs. Though generous, especially from his Thai mentor, the ten percent split with his fellow busboy wasn't anywhere near what he would have gotten waiting, and Jenny made a lot more, but Joe was fine with it.

As usual, Jenny had her free drink at the downstairs bar with Joe, both drinking gin gimlets. "Here," she said when she plopped down next to him, handing him and envelope. "Upstairs tips from the bartenders."

"Holy shit," said Joe, counting fifty dollars. There was also a folded up twenty added. Joe showed it to her.

Jenny shrugged. "Pete offered his tip in cocaine," she explained, Pete being the long haired pretty boy coke dealer. "I told him you'd probably want cash, but I guess he added some anyway."

"He's always been generous," Joe smiled. "Probably making up for the stingy Tam."

A couple of his fellow workers planned on heading to their usual afterhours club and Joe begged off. "Unless you want to?" Joe asked Jenny.

"Nope," said Jenny, taking his hand. "Let's head home."

"Sounds good."

Heading to the subway, Jenny had a lot more energy than Joe, hopping around him, telling him about the great show. "Johnny was so fucking on!" she exclaimed. "He's got such charisma, but the whole band was cool!"

"Not one of his train wrecks," Joe said. "He did seem relatively sober."

"I heard he can be bad."

"When he's too wasted to play," Joe responded. "Hopefully he won't be tomorrow."

"I hope so too. He played some of his old shit with the Dolls, but I liked the new shit just as much and maybe more."

"He's got some talent as a songwriter if he gets over his need to get fucked up all the time."

"Was that you too?"

"What do you mean?"

"Getting off that shit? Were you getting lost in it, not creative?"

"The city has plenty of distractions, but yeah, that's definitely part of it."

"It's a choice isn't it? To get too fucked up to care?"

"Sometimes."

"What do you mean?"

"Sometimes it's a disease where the medicine is the disease and not the cure. Like being an alcoholic. Some people are just addicts, like they need the shit to live even if it's killing them."

"Maybe because it's killing them because they can't stand life."

"Maybe," Joe essentially agreed.

"There's a lot of shit I want to forget."

"Yeah. That you're not getting fucked up is actually pretty amazing, especially with all the temptations. I mean in Minnesota I imagine you didn't have a bartender to provide all the coke you could want or a boyfriend who could get you smack."

"Maybe not smack, but coke to some extent and definitely pot. I liked getting high, but maybe because it wasn't all the time I didn't get caught up in it, like being a stoner or something. But yeah, it does seem ever present and I do have to negotiate with the temptation of it and the consequences of giving in. I'm not the great talent like Carol. It's like you know the braniacs who don't need to study much to get A's and I'm the one who really had to put my nose to the grindstone and even then it's lucky if I can get anything better than a B, you know? So I have to work extra hard, keep my body strong and my head unimpaired."

"Your discipline and self-awareness amazes me," Joe praised.

"It's a struggle, Joe. It always had been it seems. Not to give into all the negative shit I got handed from my mother mostly but situationally too, like being told I'm not good enough or not even being told, just looked at like I'm not good enough, so why bother, you know? Except it's all I want, dancing, the only real joy in my life. Although I've found some joy with you, except I can't have sex all the time, can I? Well I could if I were a whore, but I imagine that wouldn't be all that joyous."

"No," Joe chuckled.

"I'm glad I bumped into you," she smiled, taking his hand.

"I seem to remember I bumped into you," Joe countered.

"Don't be pedantic."

They laughed.

Once home, she asked, "Can I watch you shoot up?"

"You sure? It's late."

"We can sleep in."

"Okay. It's kind of hanging in my mind having it around," he decided, gathering the dime bag and his works.

She watched, fascinated, seeing the ceremonial nature of it, except when she fetched a glass of water.

He put in the folded aluminum contained cocaine with the dope and burned the spoon until the concoction boiled, then tied up using his red plastic tie and shot up, pushing in three times for the rushes before cleaning out the syringe and setting it aside before lying back in bed. She lay beside him.

"What's it like?"

"Rushes like coke encapsulated and intensified in the moments. There's rushes without the coke, but more a dull opiate rush."

"Then pleasant."

"Very."

She kissed him and began stripping him, the kisses moved to where she made him naked until she took his penis, barely half hard, into her mouth.

"You want the marathon," he realized.

"Mmm-hmm," she responded, buzzing his cock which helped elongated it. She removed her lower clothing and straddled his mouth letting him oil up her passageway, which was warm and moist but not all that prepared.

Once fully hard, she stopped and stripped off her shirt, his stroking it keeping if fully hard, along with seeing her become naked.

She straddled his cock and led it in.

"Condom?" he asked while slowly penetrating her.

"My period is arriving soon," she explained.

Her tightness and the lack of rubber helped counter the bit of numbness caused by the dope.

It began as a slow, loving ride, eyes either focusing on their place of penetration or on the others' eyes, with his occasional glimpses at the somewhat subtle dance of her tits. He dampened his fingers before enjoying her nipples, which she enjoyed as well, shifting her to a faster speed, a medium pace, but shifting angles seemed to bring her need for a faster pace, her choice an angling back, giving pressure on her g spot. He added pressure to her clit, rubbing sometimes, even feeling himself inside her inside her abdomen, but mostly keeping still and pressing and she became wildly enthusiastic, riding him much faster until she came.

He shifted things, pulling her close at their connection and keeping deep while moving over her almost sitting up on his knees. His hands took hold of her hips and he pulled and pushed for the fucking, taking complete command, his mouth lowering to nip and nibble on her nipples.

Eventually she took more control, bouncing against him, and he shifted again to a more traditional missionary position, though with a gap a cock length which, more and more quickly, ended with each thrust from both above and below. And it kept like that for a long time, him stopping pressing deep for each of her several orgasms which arrived quicker and quicker, and then he kept going through the seeming continuous orgasm or several close together until, at last, he felt that tension in his balls proclaiming imminent release, and still with the long strokes until it's arrival, stilled and pressed deep into her, and the dulling somehow still allowed a surprising intensity when he let loose into her womb.