Parallels

He looked around for the two guys that had brought him here. He didn't see either one. He knew one was in the men's room and the other was shooting pool with a chubby redhead. They'd started out in this little Irish Pub that Scott would have been content to stay at, but they'd insisted on going to a strip club next.

Not Scott's scene at all. He'd fallen off the fidelity wagon back in March when he'd started fooling around with Laurie, but he still clung tightly enough to his Baptist morals that watching young girls undress and grind against him for money put him very much at unease. Then they'd moved on to a place called Hogs and Heifers and had finally settled on this place, The Village Idiot.

He took another swallow of his beer and was about to walk out when a voice in his right ear said, "How you enjoying your visit?"

He turned to see a young blonde with a short, almost boyish, haircut smiling at him. She didn't look much older than Alyson, his fifteen-year-old daughter, but she must have been at least twenty-one to get in the bar. She was wearing three-inch heels that let her look Scott in the eye, so that made her be around five-eight. Same height as Alyson too, he thought.

Instinctively, Scott's eyes scanned her body and enjoyed the way her hips flared slightly giving her a hint of an hourglass, and he liked the way her pale legs went on forever as they came out of her short black skirt. He also caught himself admiring the way her little champagne glass titties stood out and pressed against her white thin-strapped tank top without the hindrance of a bra. And of course he couldn't miss the way her nipples stood at attention.

Were it not for the fact that that this girl was light skinned and blonde as opposed to being tan and brunette, she really looked a lot like Alyson. Fuck, he thought. Why am I doing this? Fucking Laurie is perverting the hell out of my thoughts.

Finally, he returned her smile and said, "What makes you think I'm a visitor?"

She smiled and said, "I heard you order your beer. You're not from New York."

"Really," he said. "Where am I from?"

"Somewhere in the south, but I'd guess Texas."

"Wow," he said. "I am from Texas."

She touched her glass to his bottle and said, "I knew it."

He smiled and said, "Good ear."

She laughed. "Not really. It doesn't take much of an ear to know you're not from here. So, you a cowboy?"

He matched her laugh. "No. I'm an electrical engineer. I interviewed for a job today."

Looking him over, she said, "I thought maybe you got those arms wrestling steers. You sure didn't get them designing circuits."

Scott felt like a kid doing it but couldn't resist the urge to pop his bicep into a full muscle and say, "You'd be surprised, but you're right. I lift weights everyday."

"Cool," she said as she reached her hand up and gave his muscle a firm squeeze. Then she closed her fist, bent her arm up, and made her own bicep pop as she said, "So do I. I do it for work though."

"For work? What do you do?"

"I'm a cop."

"Get out of here," Scott said.

"No. Really," she said. "I'm a detective."

"A detective. You look more like a high school hall monitor to me."

"Gee thanks," she said with fake insult. "How old do you think I am?"

"Well," he said. "I've got a daughter that's fifteen, and if I didn't know you had to be twenty-one to get in here, I'd say you weren't any older than her."

She laughed but said, "Fuck you. I'm thirty-two."

"You are not. No way you're a day over twenty-two."

She pulled out her drivers license and handed it to him. As she did so, Scott couldn't help noticing the NYPD badge and 9mm Beretta lying in the bottom of her purse. He looked at the picture on her license, then at the stats. pamela Hogan. DOB 1/14/72. Hair Blonde. Eyes Blue. Height Five-eight. Weight 135. He handed it back to her and said, "Damn, Pamela. You sure look a lot younger."

"Well," she said. "You don't exactly look old enough to have a fifteen year old daughter yourself."

"That's my youngest daughter," he said. "My oldest is eighteen."

"Shit," she said. "How old are you?"

"Forty-four."

"Fuck. I figured you were around my age. Maybe even younger."

"Righteous living," he said.

She laughed and said, "Yeah right."

"What?" he said. "You don't believe that?"

She laughed again and said, "Nope."

Faking offense, he said, "But, why?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe the fact that you've got a wife and two daughters back in Texas, but here you are in a famous New York pick-up spot."

Scott shrugged and said, "Hey, I'm just following the two guys I interviewed with today. They brought me out."

"I see," she said. "So, if I invite you back to my apartment in the Bronx, you won't come."

"I don't know," Scott said. "Are you inviting me?"

"What do you think I'm doing, Cowboy?"

"I'm not sure," he said. "I've been out of the loop on these kinds of things for close to twenty years now."

Pam rolled her eyes as she laughed and said, "Next you'll be telling me you're wife is the only woman you sleep with."

Scott stared silently at his bottle before saying, "Well. She is the only one I've SLEPT with in a while."

Pam had been in the middle of taking a drink of her beer when she burst into laughter, from hearing the way he emphasized the word SLEPT, and had to spit it out. She regained her composure and wiped spilt beer off her chin. Then she said, "Let's grab that booth that just opened up, and you can tell me how many other women you haven't SLEPT with while we discuss whether or not I was inviting you to my apartment."

*

"He didn't even answer his phone when we called, Jennifer," Dina said as she pulled her Lincoln Navigator into Oliver's driveway. "Why are we stopping here?"

"Maybe he was in the back with one of his little sisters or something," Jennifer said. "I just want to see if he can go with us and let him know where I'll be."

"Jesus, girl," Dina said. "Is the guy hung so good that you really feel you have to check with him before we go have some fun?"

Jennifer giggled and said, "Yeah, he is."

"Damn," Dina said. "You'll have to let me check that out someday."

"If we can get his little sister to sleep, you can check it out right now."

Dina laughed and said, "You're one sick bitch."

"That's why you love me."

"Probably," Dina said as she opened her door to dismount from the Navigator. Looking at the car parked in the Bolton's driveway, she waited until Jennifer was out of the Navigator too and said, "When did Oliver's mom trade that old Lumina in for a new Nissan Maxima?"

Noticing the car for the first time, Jennifer said, "She didn't."

Then the light went on in both their heads, and Dina voiced their thoughts. "You know who got a new Maxima for graduation, don't you?"

"Yes," Jennifer said. "And it's dark gray just like this one too."

"Sure you wanna go in?"

"Fucking A right I want to go in," Jennifer declared. "If he's really humping that whore, I want to catch him at it and be done with it."

Dina sighed and said, "Let's do this then."

*

Jesus Christ, Sandy thought as Jacob pulled his Corvette to a stop next to a midnight blue Lexus. The half oval driveway to this house must have been a quarter mile long and the house itself looked like a palace. Aloud she said, "My God, Jake. I knew surgeons had money, but this is ridiculous."

"Isn't it though," Jacob said? "She's got money of her own. But unless I misunderstood Cleo though, she doesn't own this place. She's just living in it for the people that are here for the party."

"What's she want to live all the way up here way north of Plano for, when the hospital she works at is in Arlington?"

Jacob laughed. "You're seeing this house and you have to ask that question."

"Okay," Sandy laughed at herself. "Dumb question. I guess this place would be worth the commute."

They reached the front door and it was actually answered by a fully uniformed doorman. Get the fuck out of here, Sandy thought. These people have got all this and I have to suck Hudson's cock twice a week just to make sure I can keep my daughters' college funds in tact. Life ain't fucking fair.

They stepped inside. There must have been about a hundred people drinking, dancing, shooting pool and eating food off trays that were making their way around the house. Sandy had been in stadiums that were smaller than this place. Her eyes glanced up the spiral stairway and she would have sworn she saw a naked girl running down the hall with an equally naked man chasing behind her. Not woman. Girl. Shit, she thought. I've got to be seeing things.

She looked back to Jacob and realized he was talking to a five-ten blonde in a white pullover minidress with tits that matched her own 36 Ds. I've seen her at the hospital, Sandy thought. She smiled at the blonde and said, "Hi, I'm Sandy Gordon."

Jake handed Sandy a drink and said, "Pardon my manners. Sandy, this is Dr. Cleopatra El McTomb. She's the chief surgical resident at Baptist Memorial."

Sandy shook the hand she was being offered and said, "Nice to meet you Dr. El McTomb."

"Please," Cleo said. "It's just Cleo. I hate that formal shit."

Liking her immediately, Sandy laughed and said, "Cleo it is. Hey, it was kind of a long drive out here. Is there some place I can go powder my nose?"

Sandy noticed that, for some reason, Jake looked at her funny when she said this. But, before she could inquire as to why, Cleo said, "I was about to go do that myself."

Before Sandy could reply, Jake said, "You POWDER your nose, Sandy?"

"Don't be silly, Jake," Cleo said as she took Sandy's hand to lead her off. "This is a party. We all powder our noses. Isn't that right, Sandy?"

Still not getting what the big deal was, Sandy shrugged and said, "I don't know if everyone powders their nose, but I sure powder mine when it needs it."

Cleo laughed and said, "Don't worry, Jake. I'll get her back to you."

*

With Dina following closely behind, Jennifer stepped quietly down the carpeted hallway of the Bolton's house. It was actually Calvary Baptist Church's house, but with Oliver's dad being the Pastor, they considered it theirs. Half way down the hall, the grunting noises became more and more clear to the ear; and whatever hopes Jennifer had, soon vanished. They neared the open doorway to Oliver's room and Jennifer paused and turned to look at Dina. Dina shrugged and whispered, "We came this far. Let's finish it."

They both quietly eased up to the doorway and peeked inside. Bill Cornwall was sitting with his back against the bed's headboard and his legs open while Sarah Purcey's head slowly bobbed up and down on his cock. While she sucked Bill's cock, Oliver was on his knees behind her fucking her doggie style.

As Oliver's pace began to increase, she let Bill's cock slip from her lips and she turned her head back to Oliver and through gritted teeth said, "Yeah, baby. Fuck me good. Fuck me real good. I bet your little cheerleader doesn't fuck you like this."

As he continued to pump his cock into Sarah from behind, Oliver shook his head and said, "Oh hell no. She only ever wants to do it in the missionary position and then she just lays there and lets it happen."

Jennifer's mouth fell open and she felt even more betrayed by those words than she did by the sight of her boyfriend fucking another girl. Tears ran down her cheek and before she could step into the bedroom to confront them, Dina grabbed her arm and shook her head.

"Come on, baby," Dina said. "Let's just get out of here. It's not worth it."

Jennifer nodded and let Dina lead her out of the house.

*

"So, are you in a special squad?" Scott asked as he sat down across from Pam and handed her another Corona.

She shook her head before lifting the bottle up to her lips for a drink and said, "No, I'm in a regular detective squad. I was in Narcotics working undercover for a while and for obvious reasons I still get loaned out to Vice, but I like being versatile."

"What was Narcotics like," Scott asked?

Pam shook her head and shivered. "Intense. It was hard to keep from getting caught up in it."

"What do you mean?"

She hesitated. "Well, I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but I doubt you're an IAD plant," she said. "But, the shit is right there in your face all the time, and when you're making buys and making friends with dealers, they EXPECT you to get high with them."

"Wow," Scott said. "What do you do?"

"Shit," she said. "What the fuck do you think? You want to make the bust and you want to stay alive, you get high."

"No shit," Scott said

She shrugged, "It was part of the job. Nobody talks about it, and we all deny it in court, but everyone knows what goes down. Taking a hit off a joint never bothered me, but I was always scared whenever I had to do a line of coke or crystal. I just liked that shit way too much. Still do, but I stay away from it as much as I can."

"Damn," Scott said. "I've never done the stuff. Nobody in my family has."

She gave him a look that said volumes but voiced, "Are you sure about that?"

"Oh yeah," Scott said. "My little girls aren't into that."

"I hope you're right," Pam said. "What about your wife?"

"Sandy?" Scott shook his head almost violently. "No way. She's as straight as they come."

*

Sandy followed Cleo into one of the upstairs bathrooms. As they passed by a room, she definitely heard the undeniable sound of two people fucking. Cleo closed the bathroom door behind her and Sandy noticed that there was another door that probably led into a bedroom. From the location, it was probably the same bedroom she'd heard the coupling sounds coming from. Her ears perked and she said, "Sounds like someone's having fun."

Cleo laughed. "Oh yeah," she said. "There'll be plenty of that. Ready to powder that nose?"

Uncomfortable now, Sandy looked over at the toilet seat and said, "You go first."

"Cool," Cleo said. But instead of lifting her dress and sitting on the toilet, she opened the medicine cabinet and took out a small vial. After lying a mirror flat, she dumped the white powder contents of the vial onto the mirror, and with a razor blade that had been lying on the counter, divided those contents into four lines of white powder. Sandy hadn't noticed a gold straw lying next to the razorblade, but her jaw had already dropped by the time Cleo picked up that straw and used it to snort two of the four lines.

When Cleo handed Sandy the straw, she didn't know what to do but take it from her. With the straw in her hand, she seemed drawn to the mirror as she leaned her face down to it and snorted first one and then the last of the lines. Feeling awareness like she'd never felt before, Sandy closed her eyes and said, "My fucking God. Is that coke?"

Cleo laughed and said, "It sure as hell ain't sugar, baby."

"Oh my God," Sandy said. "I never felt any kind of rush like that before."

Cleo laughed again. "You've never done coke?"

Sandy shook her head and said, "No."

"What were you talking about then when you said you had to powder your nose?"

Sandy stepped over to the toilet and pulled down her white shorts along with the orange thong she was wearing underneath them and sat on the open seat. She sighed with relief as soon as the tinkling sound commenced and said, "I had to pee."

Cleo covered her mouth to hide her laughter and said; "I haven't heard anyone use that expression about using the toilet other than in the movies."

Sandy shrugged as she continued to pee and said, "My mother, the Pastor's wife, used to use it all the time. For some reason, I adopt it at the most unusual times."

Sandy finished and after wiping herself stood up and tossed the tissue in the toilet. Before she flushed, she looked at Cleo and asked if she needed to use it. Cleo shook her head and said, "No. I really came here for the nose powder."

Cleo waited for Sandy to flush and said, "That's a nice ring. You married?"

Sandy blushed slightly and said, "Yeah."

Cleo laughed again and said, "That's my Jake."

Curious, Sandy asked, "He likes married women?"

"He likes women period. I think he's fucked every nurse in the ER, and half of the rest of the nurses in the hospital, but he especially likes women that aren't looking for an attachment."

"What about Chief Surgical Residents," Sandy asked? "How many of those has he fucked?"

Cleo shook her head and said, "At one time I would have loved being a notch on Jake Guerra's bedpost, but he's not what I'm into these days."

Sandy rested her ass against the edge of the counter top and crossed her arms beneath her bosom, accentuating the way her orange biking top revealed under her white cotton shirt that was left unbuttoned and tied in a knot below her heavy breasts.

"What are you looking for," Sandy asked? "A guy that wants to attach?"

Cleo smiled and said, "Not exactly."

Sandy shrugged and held her open palms to the ceiling showing her puzzlement. Cleo smiled again and stepped closer to Sandy. Before Sandy knew what she was doing, she leaned her lips to Sandy's. The natural thing for Sandy to do was let her lips open and accept Cleo's tongue.

That went on for about thirty seconds before Cleo broke the kiss and said, "Wow. I wasn't expecting that good a response."

Flushed. Sandy said, "Neither was I. You're a lesbian?"

"I still like a cock from time to time," Cleo said. "But for the most part, I just like women. What about you? You're a wonderful kisser, by the way."

Still flushed, Sandy said, "I don't know what to say right now, but you're the first woman I've ever kissed."

Cleo let her fingers trace across Sandy's left breast and brush her nipple until it became hard. Then she said, "We better get you back to Jake before he takes a fit, but get away from him later, and I'll give you another first."

Sandy didn't say no.

*

When Taylor had called Jennifer earlier in the day, she had told her to be at Laurie's apartment by nine o'clock if she still wanted to go. It was a quarter after when she and Dina arrived at the door, but from the stereo blaring out Toxic by Britney Spears, they knew they weren't too late.

Jennifer rang the bell and Taylor answered the door right away. The first thing Dina noticed was how dilated Taylor's pupils were. She could only see a tiny blue ring around the black pupil in each eye. Taylor smiled at Jennifer and gave her a hug. Then she looked at Dina and said, "Hey, Nouri. What's up?"

"Not much, Morgan," Dina said. "We weren't sure y'all would still be here."

Taylor smiled and said, "We're having our own private party before we leave. Come on in."

Jennifer stepped into the apartment with Dina following behind her. Taylor gave a quick scan of Jennifer's black bikini top and form fitting shorts along with Dina's overall shorts and her white bikini underneath it. "Perfect," she said. "We'll probably all end up in the pool or the lake before the night's over. You both look hot too. If either one of you ever wanted to fuck a millionaire, tonight's your chance."

Dina rolled her eyes, but Taylor was too stoned to notice. She turned into the apartment where three girls sat on the living room floor gathered around a glass top coffee table. "Hey, everyone," she said. "These are my friends Jennifer and Dina."

Then she pointed to the six-foot tall blonde and said, "This is Francine. We call her Frankie."

Frankie stood up and gave Jennifer a hug and said in her Liz Hurley accent, "We've met, remember."

Jennifer returned her hug and said, "Yeah we're still supposed to get together and hit some balls someday."

"Anytime," Frankie said. "Did you get that scholarship?"

Jennifer shook her head and said, "I blew it at state this year. I barely won my quarterfinal match, and then I got blown out in the semis."