The Choice

All of my writing is fiction and the stories and characters are all products of my imagination. They were created for my fun and, hopefully, your enjoyment. Some of the events in the stories are not particularly condoned nor encouraged by the author but are there to create and enhance the story of the imaginary characters and their lives. Comments are always encouraged and carefully reviewed. All characters within the story that need to be are 18 years of age or older. Hope you enjoy!

This story came about from a direct challenge I received. I write mostly in the Exhibitionist and Voyeur category and dares are a part of many stories there. This was definitely not a dare, just a push to me to come out of the bushes and write from a very different perspective. The protagonist in this story is probably not someone you'd want as a friend, or an enemy, or an acquaintance, or anyone anywhere in your life. I hope he comes off that way. He meets someone, with surprising results. As mentioned above, I love getting comments, critiques, criticisms, whatever. They make the writing fun and hopefully, better in the long run.

****

She was beautiful, no doubt about that.

At least I thought so, and so did someone else. She was married. Didn't make her any less beautiful to me. Maybe a touch more alluring though, challenging perhaps. There'd be a chance. I wouldn't miss it. I wanted her.

****

I remember the day I graduated from college. They had a speaker from some local business who had done really well. You know, local boy makes good. I didn't usually give a rat's ass about that kind of shit but, for some reason, I listened to a little of what he said. It was kind of:

"Today, you are embarking on the rest of your life. It's a momentous day and a day for big decisions. One of those decisions is how you will live your life. Not what you will do with your life but how you will live it. Today you can determine that you will live your life as a good and moral person. You can choose honestly over dishonesty. You can choose to be forgiving and not hold grudges. You can choose to be warm hearted and helpful rather than distant and hindering. You can lay your ego aside, rather than insisting on always being right. These are things you can choose today. These are decisions you can cling to as you move on with your life, to make that life useful and a joy for others. Make your choice wisely."

He said some other stuff too I guess, but I was stuck on that little section I heard. And what I heard was, you can choose to be a loser, or you can choose do things to get ahead, no matter what. That's not what he said, not at all, but those are sure as hell the thoughts I was having. I was hearing the other side of what he was saying. You do what you have to do to get what you want. And if things like "morals" or "honesty" or other stuff like that get in the way, don't worry about it.

Hell, my dad would have fit right into that guy's speech. He was the best guy you'd ever want to meet, my dad. He had a little corner grocery store and all the people in the neighborhood came there. It wasn't fancy and the people weren't fancy. They mostly lived pay check to pay check and sometimes pay checks and being hungry didn't match up. So, dad kept a tab, a little notebook under the counter and he'd write down what people owed. When they paid, he'd cross it off with a pencil. Nothing fancy. But the big chain stores moved in and he was getting less and less customers and pretty soon he didn't have money to restock the store. The chain stores didn't give a shit about that. He had to stop keeping tabs for people. So, one day a guy who always ran a tab and was quite a bit drunk, came in with his kid's little league baseball bat and beat my dad to death. Being a good guy didn't help him much when that bat was swinging at his head.

So, I decided while I was sitting there listening to that guy with his great advice that I'd be a good guy -- if it was going to help me. If not, I'd be whatever it took to get what I wanted. I wasn't going to become a bank robber, or a con man or an embezzler -- unless it would really help me somehow, the embezzling maybe, but I wasn't going to worry about the small stuff. Que sera, sera. And what was going to be was me doing well and getting the things that I wanted.

****

"Hey Mindy, sup girl?" It was two days later and I was picking up a copy of my transcript . . . and hopefully a couple of other things as well. Mindy worked in the college office and we'd had a couple of dates that ended up in my bed. I needed a couple of things done, secretly, and Mindy was very obliging. She wasn't ugly -- thick glasses and a little chunky maybe, but I had been very pleasantly surprised when we hit the bed. She turned what I thought would be a chore into something very, very pleasant indeed.

It was easy, really. People told me that, back a few years ago, I'd have been the guy on the Marlboro posters. The mysterious, handsome cowboy, drifting in and drifting out, tough, with those piercing eyes, the one all the ladies wanted but none seemed to get. I don't know about the cowboy stuff but "the one all the ladies wanted but none seemed to get," fit me pretty well. Mindy seemed to like that.

"Hey, Seth. You just graduated, didn't you?"

"Finally," I laughed. "Here to grab a transcript so I can go job hunting."

"I can do that. You get one free. Have you gotten any yet.?"

"No, but listen, while I'm thinking about it, you busy Saturday night? Maybe get a bite and then a video or something at my place?" I kind of emphasized the 'or something' since she pretty well knew what that meant.

"I can do that."

Time for the clincher. I used my eyes and head to tell her to get a little closer.

"Listen, how about a favor?" She was close enough that I could smell that kind of strong perfume she always wore.

She looked a little wary but she understood the game, the rules we played by.

"What's that?" she asked, really quietly.

"Take four sheets of that paper you print the transcripts on and then stamp them with that embosser thing you use on the transcripts."

"Seth, I can't do that." She was whispering now.

I licked my lips. I had discovered on our second date that that drove her crazy. "Please, Mindy."

"Oh, shit," she said and disappeared into the other room.

In just three or four minutes she was back.

"Here's your transcript, Seth. I couldn't get the others right now but I'll have them Saturday night for sure, okay?

"No problem, Mindy. Looking forward to Saturday too." I gave her a little wink just for effect.

Good luck on the job hunting." She handed me a yellow envelope.

"Thanks, Mindy." I threw my best smile at her and held up six fingers. That's when I'd pick her up Saturday. I could probably do better for Saturday night, but not and have those papers too. It was worth it, not a bad trade. Besides, Mindy could make it interesting sometimes.

Six o'clock Saturday night came and I was at Mindy's, right on time. She had another of those yellow envelopes which she handed to me and I tossed into the back seat. When she got in the car, I kissed her, a real kiss.

"I'm not really hungry," she said, a kind of a subtle, knowing look on her face.

That was cool since it'd save me a few bucks. It didn't take long to get to my place and it didn't take long, once we were there, to get Mindy naked. Mind you, she wore the thick glasses and her teeth were, well, just a little bucked, but, once she was naked you didn't spend much time looking at her face. Her body was at least a 9 in my book, even though she seemed pretty intent on hiding it most of the time. A tiny bit chunky, but I kind of liked women that way, not too skinny. Don't know why she hid it with the clothes she usually wore. Here though, there was no hiding.

She was anxious to get going, as always, and my pants were off and my hard-on was in her mouth, her tits in my hands, her head bobbing and her lips and tongue working magic. It had been a while since I'd had any of this, what with finals and graduation, and it felt really good.

"Shit, Mindy, that feels so good."

She stopped. "Anything special you'd like?"

"You're doing fine."

She was on it again and I was pumping my hips, her face hitting my pubes with every pump, only an occasional gagging sound from her. I couldn't last much longer and very soon I was emptying into her throat, her swallowing feeling good on my cock. She was good -- not a drop leaked out.

She let loose and lay back on the floor, spreading her legs, light brown muff parting to reveal some swollen labia and a clit that I actually loved working on as it was much larger than most and easy to bring to some fine results.

As I licked and then sucked, Mindy responded with her hips slowly rising higher and higher and then dropping only to rise higher and higher again. Those movements were accompanied with delightfully erotic moans and an occasional outcry as well.

"Oh, fuck Seth, harder - harder!"

There wasn't much more I could do but she didn't seem to mind.

"Damn, keep it up. Keep it uuuuppppppp!"

Her back was arching up so high I didn't know how she could do that and then, the jerking and twisting began. Her whole body was vibrating and she was basically screaming.

"Yeeessss, yeeessss, oh fuck yeeessss."

I kept going till she told me to stop. It would take a little work from her but I'd be ready again before long. It was maybe 15 minutes when I got the condom out, tore the package open and handed it to her. She seemed to enjoy putting it on me, probably because she knew what was coming next.

She always liked missionary best, even though I'd have liked to experiment a little more. I decided she wasn't having sex with other guys because she was always so tight. I did enjoy that feeling though and she was good with those Kegel muscles or whatever they were since I could feel her squeezing and letting go and squeezing and letting go of it. Added to that was the moaning she did while I was pounding away on her. She never orgasmed again but that moaning was kind of music to my ears. When I'd finally come, she'd really used those muscles and it make it a lot better.

Afterward, we'd lay and talk for a little while, then I'd get up and take her home. I wondered if I should feel a little sorry for her but she was getting to have sex with a good-looking guy that she wouldn't have gotten otherwise, and she was doing me small favors. I figured it was a good trade. Tonight though, I did have to take her to her place which was a pain in the butt. I figured this might be the last time I'd be getting a little Mindy since I'd be getting a job soon. I'd miss it/her a little, I guess. Not too much though.

"Good luck finding a job," she said, blowing me a kiss as she jumped out of the car and headed to her door.

"Thanks. See ya." Probably not, but whatever.

****

"Hey Jamie, you home?" Cell phones were wonderful inventions.

"No, man. I'm just getting to the gym."

"Your place unlocked?"

"I'm sure it is. Larry never locks it when he leaves. He might still be there."

"Need to use your computer and Photoshop."

"What are you up to this time?"

"I'm gonna fix my transcript. You're talking to a near honor student." I couldn't help but smile at that.

"You're going to get yourself in trouble one of these days, Seth. Just don't get me in trouble too."

I never planned to get anyone in trouble, it just happened sometimes. Jamie was a special friend though and I didn't want to screw up anything for him.

"Eh, only the first job interviews want to see your transcript anyway. After that it's just experience."

"You got it. Just be sure to shut it down before you leave."

"Will do. Have a good workout, man."

Jamie and I had been friends all through college. We worked together on things. Jamie had friends at a bunch of schools and we'd worked up a little network for getting papers done. We hardly ever wrote a paper at school. You just put out the notice on what you needed and pretty soon it showed up as an attachment on your email from one of the collections we all had. Photoshop let us change some of the info on the papers to match our needs and we sailed along pretty well. Today was going to be a little different.

Getting a job wouldn't be too hard, with the degree. Getting a job plus a good salary was the harder part. People had told me that getting that good first salary would keep more money rolling in for your whole working life. Just think about it. If you got $5,000 more to start and you just got percentage raises all the time, if you worked for 40 years, it was a hell of a lot more money. Even dinky stuff, like a three percent raise every year. If you figure it out it's about $16,000 more for that last year. I get lost in the calculations but I think it's over $400,000 for the 40 years. That's worth thinking about. And I was thinking.

It was simple. I scanned my transcript, loaded it into Photoshop, then just kind of erased some of the grades and put in new ones. I didn't want to get too greedy so I made sure I kept the GPA below 3.5 since that would be cum laude and people might check on that. On my first try I was at 3.62 so I had to make a couple of adjustments. When it was ready, at 3.47, I printed it out on the already embossed paper Mindy had gotten for me. I wasn't totally sure it would work right but it did. I was ready for my first job interview.

Actually, it was the second interview that worked. Met with the HR lady first. A little bit of schmoozing seemed to go a long way with her. She couldn't have been much older than I was. Probably her first job and she hadn't been alerted yet to guys like me. She just had a big grin the whole time she was talking with me. It's more fun to operate with a good-looking woman too. Just makes it more enjoyable. But sometimes it's way more effective with the not so good-looking ones since they're not used to being treated that way.

Next came the sales manager and he seemed to like me. Maybe because Miss HR left some good words about me with him. We dickered a little over wages. I tried to be just a humble guy looking for a start in the business world. I think he bought it because I jacked it up $3,000 by the time he offered me the job. It was more than I'd expected so that made me feel good about it. I'd be starting as a field salesman, right after a couple of weeks orientation on the company and the products. I got the company handbook. Right at the top it said:

Our company is based on:

Honesty Integrity Caring

Sounded good. Just have to see how that works out.

****

After the orientation, I headed for the field. It looked like I'd be traveling my territory all five days of the week. Something was rattling around in my mind. Maybe I'd read about it sometime in the past. I got to work on it right away.

My first night out, I stopped at Wringlers Motel, a small obvious family owned and run place.

"Hi there. I'm Seth Connor and you are . . .? "

"Amos Wringler," a guy probably in his 50's replied, extending his hand. I shook it very earnestly.

"I'm new in this area and this is now a part of my territory. Going to be on the road five nights a week and I need someplace to stay." I gave him a knowing smile. He seemed to read what I was saying without my saying it.

"This is the place," he replied. "Happy to have you stay here anytime. I'm sure we can work something out."

At least he knew where I was going -- had probably been there before. Lots of these small places had I'm sure.

"I'll be here at least one night a week, sometimes two. How about this?" I leaned in, trying to look a little conspiratorial as he looked like he might appreciate that. "I'll call to let you know when I'll be there. No reservation, nothing on your books at all. What's your normal rate?"

"It's $59.95 a night."

"And with taxes and everything?"

"Comes to $71.48 a night."

"Sounds good. How about if I hand you $50 cash and you print me a receipt for $71.48." He looked at me for a second. "Listen, if you should happen to be full when I need the room, I'll still give you the $50." The chances of this place ever being full were practically nil.

"I can do that," he said. Another handshake.

I handed him five $10 bills and he handed me a key.

So, I was sure I could work out the same kind of a deal with other motels in my territory. Those company expense accounts were great if you figured how to work them. That would be about $20 a night for five nights or $100 a week. Good pocket change. Actually, I thought I might start a special account for that money and just let it accumulate. Might need it someday.

****

Things went well my first four years at Callahan Industries. That was the company with the honesty, integrity and caring motto. I actually seemed to have a talent for being a good salesman. Add to that a few tampered emails and maybe a touch of rumor mongering. "Hey Linda, were you the one that told me you saw Harry Reed somewhere with Jason Whitten's wife?" It didn't take long for that one to spread even though Linda denied she was the one who told me. Somewhere along the line the "I" was forgotten since "someone" had told about it first. Eventually poor Harry and his wife divorced. I'm not sure that rumor was the cause of it because I think Harry was doing a little messing around anyway. But he did resign and move out of state which left the sales manager's job open.

I was properly humble at being offered the position. The raise I got more than made up for the motel receipts I'd be losing. I might have to figure something out to replace that. Plus, there was the blond and the redhead that would be a little beyond my reach since I was office-bound now.

I had only been in the new job for about a week when it was office Christmas party time. I'd been to a couple of them, when my being on the road hadn't kept me away. Actually, I'd missed the last two and I was looking forward a little to this one. I also wasn't above receiving a little homage regarding my new position from the peons.

I was there at 7:00 sharp since I wanted a couple of drinks before dinner. By 7:30 the room was pretty well packed and I was roaming around, speaking to everyone, receiving their congratulations with the modesty required for such things. I was just looking around when my glance was suddenly frozen.

She was beautiful, no doubt about that.

At least I thought so, and so did someone else. She was married. Didn't make her any less beautiful to me. Maybe a touch more alluring though, challenging perhaps. There'd be a chance. I wouldn't miss it. I wanted her.

"Hello. Seth Connor," I said with as friendly a tone as I could muster.

She turned her head slowly and looked at me -- sizing me up to my great surprise. Her black hair glistened, even in the subdued light of the room. Her equally black eyes had a haunting glow to them, piercing my own so that I nearly had to look away. Her lips, light pink and glossy began to move.

"Shannon Sylvester," she replied softly, extending a hand.

I took hold of it gently, as I usually did with women, but what I received back was not a typical female hand shake. It was a firm grip, mostly just holding my hand and not shaking at all. Her eyes never left mine. Slowly a subtle grin played across her face. Before I could say anything, she continued.