The Fier

What would you do if you were stuck in traffic, minding your own business, mind a blank, waiting for the car in front of you to move, when your passenger door is wrenched open and this body dives in, jamming as much as possible into the footwell and pulls the door shut? Be honest, you'd shit yourself, right?

"What the fuck!" I don't normally use that word, with the exception of when I hit my thumb with a hammer.

"I'm not here." It was a woman's voice.

"All evidence to the contrary."

"Well, pretend I'm not here, please." She seemed desperate.

This bloke running alongside the line of cars peering into them seemed to support her feelings of desperation.

"You can get up now, he's stopped looking."

"I'll stay here until this traffic gets moving, if I may."

"You may." From the little that I could see she appeared to be well dressed and of slim build.

Two sets of lights later she decided that we were far enough away, from where she joined me, for it to be safe to climb from her cramped position and take a seat. Putting her seat belt on, she looked at me. "I guess that I owe you an explanation."

"That would be nice." What I was really thinking was; "You reckon?"

"I was running away from him. I was in fear for my life." She paused to gather her thoughts. "The he of this story is someone that I work with who has gotten it into his head that he and I are in a relationship. I have complained to my boss but he has done nothing. It would seem that he has taken the guy's word, complete with a fictitious account of our sex life, over my complaint."

"So what have you done about it?"

"Despite my need for this job, I couldn't stand it any longer so, I told my boss to stick his job up his fat arse and that I resign. I then told him in no uncertain terms, my reason for chucking in what could have been a very good career and that I would have made major contributions to the company, all of which had just gone down the gurgler because he took the word of a lecherous bastard over mine. The language that I used got him concerned that I would take the matter further."

"So what happens now?"

"As far as the job is concerned I don't know. As I was leaving he was involved in a heated discussion with my supposed boyfriend. As for now, could I impose upon you to take me somewhere safe, I don't want to go home because the bastard knows where I live."

"If you think that you can trust me not to take advantage of your situation, you can stay with me, but I have to warn you that I am neither blind nor stupid."

"Hmm," She held both hands out, palms up, looking from one to the other, "Frying pan, fire, frying pan, fire, which is it to be?" I was just about to put forward my case for her to come with me. "What the fuck, it's going to be fire, hello fire, I'm Tracey."

"You may call the fire Benji. Hi Tracey, I'm pleased to meet you."

"I think that I'm pleased to meet you."

"Are we going to my place or somewhere else?"

Before she could answer her phone rang, she put it on speaker. "you fucking bitch, I'll get you for what you did."

"Just what did I do?" She said politely.

"You just went and got me fired."

"Really? I'm so sad for you, not. What did I do to get you fired?"

"You made allegations about me harassing you."

"I made those allegations a month ago. By the way, I'm recording this conversation and I have a witness, say hello to Steve, he's a cop." The line went dead.

We had just turned into my driveway when her phone went off again. "Hello."

"Tracey, it's Bradley,"

"The boss." She whispered. "Why are you calling me, did I miss something out?"

"No, you didn't miss anything out. I'm offering you your job back, it seems as if your friend Errol has been telling lies."

"But you didn't believe me before, what's changed?"

"It's because of your outburst. The other girls in the office overheard what you said."

"You think so?"

"Well, you did have your volume cranked right up to ears bleeding. No sooner had you stormed out than I had a deputation of thousands telling me exactly what was happening between you and Errol. I confronted him about it and he tried to pass it off as a bit of harmless fun. His harmless fun has the potential to cost me a great deal of money. The girls are threatening to take me to court unless you come back to work. What is it to be?"

"I need time to think. I'll drop in tomorrow to have a chat."

"Good, I'll look forward to talking with you. There will be changes made, believe me."

"Wow you really shoved a shovel full of stinking turds at the fan, didn't you?" I commented.

"No more than he deserved."

I chucked my keys on the coffee table, "What are we going to do about dinner?"

"Do you have any bright ideas?"

"I'm not big on fast food, so it's a toss-up between restaurant and pub, your choice."

"It looks like it'll have to be a pub meal, I'm not exactly flush with money until I get paid."

"I could pay for you, no probs. (We Australians like to shorten things, 'no probs' is short for 'no problems') But, if the truth be known, my local does a pretty good salt and pepper squid if you like that."

"Sounds good to me."

I rang the hotel. "Hi Rach, What's the chance of a table for two in about half an hour? Great, we'll see you then." Since the Covid19 outbreak hotels have had restrictions on the number of customers they could safely seat and maintain social distancing protocols.

"Do you eat there often? You seem to be on friendly terms with the staff."

"I manage to eat there about once a week, the food is good and the salad bar is well stocked with good stuff."

We were served quickly, one of the perks of being a regular customer and there not being many customers. We went up to the salad bar for something to go with the salt and pepper squid and chips (fries). There were at least a dozen different salads in containers behind a clear shield. We pointed to our choice of salad and it was served onto a plate by a staff member wearing PPEs complete with gloves.

"This is good, I think that I'll have to come here more often."

"If you stay with me you will." I was kite-flying here, in the hope that we could prolong our friendship."

"Getting ahead of yourself, don't you think?"

"If I don't try, I'll never know."

"You just might get lucky. You never know."

We finished our meal and I waved to Rachel as we left. She gave me the thumbs-up of approval and smiled at Tracey.

"I guess that's it then."

"What do you mean?" I knew damned well what she meant.

"You friend likes me so I suppose that I'm stuck with you, at least for the time being."

The night was still a pup when we arrived back home. "What would you like to do now? We have TV or we could watch a video from my extensive collection, or, we could listen to music, I have an eclectic mix of records and CDs."

Tracey went over to the shelves that contained my record collection. "My. You weren't wrong, were you? You have everything from heavy metal to classical. What to choose." She ran her finger along the rows of vinyl, stopping at the classical section. She slid an album from the stack, it was the orchestrated version of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition' She handed it to me and I cranked up the turntable and we sat on the sofa, lost in the music that flowed from the stereo.

Somewhere during the playing of the music Tracey leaned against me, her shoulder tucked under my arm and face on my chest. I didn't have the heart to move her. The music stopped and the pickup arm lifted from the album and the stereo shut down. "This is nice." She whispered. "Don't move."

"I had no intention of, at least not right away."

"That's good." I'll give her this, she didn't snore. We stayed where we were for something like half an hour before she sat up. "Which way to the loo?"

I showed her the facilities, toilet, bathroom, and left her with it. I had the kettle on and a couple of mugs ready to receive coffee and water when she came into the kitchen. "Wow, I crashed, didn't I?"

"Yes, but it was nice, something different for me to have a beautiful young woman snuggled up against me."

"And you didn't try to take advantage of the situation."

"The thought did cross my mind but then I remembered how you reacted to unwanted attention, so I resisted. I'm about to make coffee, will you join me?"

"Yes, thank you." I made two coffees and handed her one. We sat at the kitchen table and sipped in silence for some time before she spoke. "I suppose that you want to know if I want to sleep with you."

"The thought did cross my mind. I'll leave that decision up to you, but let me say that my preference would be for you to stay, at least for tonight, and for us to sleep together, what do you think of that idea?"

"I say yes to that and, if you should get the urge to make love to me, ask nicely and I just might agree."

"If we go to bed together, will you allow me to make love to you?" I put my best hangdog expression on.

"Oh yes, all right, but not right now." Her reluctance disappeared the moment that she kissed me. There was no reluctance in that kiss.

Both clad in tee shirts over, in my case jocks and, in her case panties, we slid under the covers. "Good night Tracey." I whispered.

"Good night Benji," She whispered, "And thank you for everything."

I was thinking about her term, 'not right now' and what that meant, when a hand reached across and found my, half-erect in anticipation, penis. "What have we here?"

"That is a penis."

"You think?"

"Yes, it is my penis and, if you keep doing what you're doing, I will not be responsible for its actions."

"Is it often irresponsible?"

"No, not as often as I would like."

"Lift your bum." I lifted it and felt my jocks heading south. She disappeared under the sheets and engulfed him. My god that felt good.

"Tracey."

She released him. "Yes?"

"If you keep that up, my irresponsible penis will unload into your mouth. I would prefer it if he was inside your pussy."

"Your wish is my command." She pulled her panties down, climbed on top of me and fed him into her pussy. "You're right, this would be my preference too."

Before you criticise the speed at which we have jumped into bed and are making love, let me say that this has nothing to do with social mores and more to do with both of us making the most of this opportunity to explore our inner feelings, and, if what I am feeling along my shaft is any indicator of what Tracey was feeling, bring it on I say.

"Benji." It was morning and her soft voice woke me from a promising dream.

"Mmm, yes?"

"I have to go to work and find out what my future is."

"Yes?"

"I have a problem."

"Mmm?" I still wasn't functioning at a hundred percent.

"I haven't got any clean panties. I don't mind wearing the same clothes as I did yesterday but I draw the line at recycling panties."

"You could always go commando." I was imagining just that scenario.

"It sounds as if it's blowing a gale outside and I have visions of my skirts blowing up."

"So have I." I said wistfully.

"Down boy. What I need is to be able to buy new panties on the way to work, I'm certainly not going home any time soon."

We got out of bed but not before a kiss and a cuddle, stopping just short of making love again, and headed for the shower.

We almost made love under the shower but got dressed instead, damn. She spun around, her skirt rising up revealing a very shapely arse and landing strip pubes. "You do realise what that is doing to me, don't you?"

"That's just to remind you what lies ahead. Now shall we go?"

With a quick stop to buy panties that she slid on in the car, another reminder, we arrived at her office building. "What do you have to do now?" Tracey asked.

"I was planning to go to work, why?"

"I think I might need some support."

"I can put off what I had planned for an hour or two." Her kiss told me that this was the right answer.

We went straight to the boss' office to be told to go right in by Suzie, his PA.

"Tracey," Bradley was out of his chair and came around his desk with his hand out, "I'm glad you could make it."

"What's this all about? After my outburst yesterday I thought that this is the last place I'd be welcome."

"Your outburst opened up a can of worms, let me tell you. I trusted Errol when he told me that you and he were an item. It turns out that the reality was far removed from his version of events. Before I had a chance to get my head around your tirade, Suzie was on the phone with all the other girls. They beat my door down and told me, in no uncertain terms what was what. I buzzed Errol, and when he arrived and they just about lynched him. I confronted him with the allegations that had just been made against him. If he'd lied he realised that he would have been hung drawn and quartered, so he confessed. I had no option but to let him go."

"So I have my job back is that what you're leading up to?"

"Yes, you have your job back."

"Sir, if I might offer a suggestion," I hadn't asked for permission to speak and, up until now had not been included in the conversation, "I think that you should also offer Tracey and ex-gratia payment as compensation for the pain and suffering that Errol has subjected her to, and which you allowed to continue."

"And just who might you be?"

"I am Tracey's new best friend and, if necessary, your worst enemy. I have experience in the handling of cases such as this."

"Very well, Tracey, I'm offering you one week's salary for each week since you brought this matter to my attention."

"I don't think that is necessary. Benji, I don't want the money. It wasn't his fault that this happened."

"Let me tell you, if you accept this offer, which is reasonable enough, Bradley will most likely deduct it from Errol's entitlements. Would that be the case?"

"Yes. If he complains, the matter will be turned over to the police and after the girls have finished giving evidence he will be off to the slammer for a long time."

"Very good, sir. The ball's in your court now, do you accept this offer?" I said to Tracey.

"Yes, I accept. Now, I am going to take the rest of the day off so that I can get my head around this latest development."

"Good for you," Suzie said as we walked through her office, "He had it coming to him. Are you going to introduce me to this handsome man?"

"Suzie, this is Benji, which I assume is short for Benjamin."

"You did well in there."

"Were you eavesdropping?"

"No, lip-reading, I'm pretty good at it, what with the practise I've had over the years."

"We need to file that bit of information away in case we find ourselves in a similar situation." Tracey said.

"I'm selective about what I listen to, in your case it was important."

"Thanks for mobilising the troops."

"No wukkas". Suzie said. (Again an Australian shortening of a phrase, in this case, it started as 'no fucking worries', then was spoonerised to 'no wucking furries', then 'no Wukkas'.)

"What are you doing now?" Tracey asked as we left the building.

"I have nothing planned that can't wait, what do you have in mind?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe a little getting to know you better sex. Do you think that you can spare the time from your busy schedule?"

"I have a certain flexibility in my schedule."

"Just what is it you do?"

"I'm what is known as a fixer." I pulled a business card from my pocket, it read; 'Got a problem? Then call Mr Fixit' along with contact details.

"Which means?"

"If someone has a problem, they pay me to fix it. What you saw back there was a sample. You had a problem that you thought had resolved itself, but he was getting off too easy. If the matter had gone to court he would most likely have gone to gaol for not resolving the matter sooner, as soon as he was aware of it. The sexual harassment law is very specific now, an employer who is made aware of a sexual harassment situation and fails to adequately address the matter can be prosecuted for that failure."

"How far would you go to solve a problem?"

"As far as necessary, within the law that is."

"So, if I were to tell you that I want Errol gone, you'd draw the line at killing him?"

"I wouldn't take his life if that's what you're getting at."

"Damn, I was hoping." Tracey saw the look on my face and burst out laughing. "You didn't think that I was serious, did you?" She lied.

"Not for a second." I lied in return.

"Yeah, right, I believe you, thousands wouldn't."

I was going to have to get used to her sarcasm. Listen to me, I've known her for less than a day and already I'm thinking of a life with her. Get a grip mate, before you find that you've backed yourself into a corner that you can't get out of.

Making love to Tracey could only be described as 'interesting'. We had got back to my place and undressed, nothing short of spectacular, and she took herself off to the toilet. I was in the bathroom scratching my chin and trying to decide whether to shave or not when she came in. She pushed in front of me and began to wash her hands. The sight of her reflected tits jiggling as she rinsed, set him straight. She saw him in the mirror. "Beep, beep, beep, vagina reversing, vagina reversing," she bent at the hips until her pussy and my rampant cock were lined up and she pushed back until he was inside her. "Oh my god, that feels good," she began to slide back and forth on him until I grabbed her hips and pulled her back and held her there as I came. As soon as I had begun to come, her hips began to tremble as she arrived at a similar conclusion. "Now, that feels even better."

"Benji," I had this feeling that she was going to ask a difficult question. "I've been meaning to thank you for what you did back there," She kissed me, "Thank you, my wonderful man." Her hands caressed my face. "By the way," Here we go. "You were on top of the situation quickly, was that because you're brilliant at your job or, you had some inside knowledge of the situation?"

"A bit of both. After you'd told me what Errol had done to you I made a couple of phone calls."

"When? I was with you all of the time."

"You did go to the toilet."

"Oh yes, I did, didn't I?"

"While you were there getting all the come out and cleaning up I called an associate and asked for a background check on Erol, it didn't take long and then, at the next opportunity, I called your work. I spoke to Suzie and after filling me in, she arranged for the girls on standby for your arrival."

"This associate, is she your girlfriend?"

"No, how could you think such a thing after what we've just had? I'm not a bastard that would take advantage of a situation such as yours just to get into your pants."

"Just making sure before I get my hopes up only to have them dashed."

"I don't see you as the type that would get dumped by any sane man."

"I would like to see what you do in your job, would that be possible?"

"You've already seen what I do."

"What I saw was the result of what you do, I want to see what happened before that. Will you show me?"

"Right now this very minute?"

"It's going to be a little while before he's ready to go again, I say that we put the time to good use."

"Follow me," She had no choice, I had grabbed her hand and led her to my office down the hall. "This is where most of it happens," I said, pointing to the array of computer screens, "This is how I can access information in an instant, I have some very powerful computers and search engines at my fingertips."

"Let's say that I'm scared to go home with Errol the way he is, and I need some sort of protection, can you arrange something?"

"Are you asking that just so you can get me back to your place and have your wicked way with me, or are you genuinely scared of him?"

"Yes and yes. There's no 'or' about it, yes I want you, and I want to feel safe. What I would really like is for you to move in with me for the duration."