The Pulitzer

Mike came back to find me sitting in a chair watching more news reports about my family's murder. An FBI agent from Langley had come down to help investigate. Special Agent Crider emphasized how important it was that they talked to me, even saying repeatedly that I was not a suspect. They just wanted to talk.

I turned off the TV and scarfed down the sausage biscuit from the McDonalds just down the road. Ten minutes later, we were back on the highway, heading somewhere. I didn't really care where and figured he'd either tell me or I'd find out when we got there.

More fast food, another cheap motel and another blowjob. This time I woke up in Mike's arms and it felt kind of nice, almost safe, in a strange sort of way. I lay there listening to him breathing behind me. It would be easy to steal what cash he had and take the Jeep and try to disappear. The problem with that was, I didn't have a clue how to do that and worse; I had nowhere to go that I knew was as safe as right here. So, I stayed right where I was.

Mike moved behind me and I felt him poking me in the butt. Just like I figured a lot of girls my age would do, I made another choice, rolling over and taking him in my mouth before he tried to fuck me. He didn't complain, and I found I didn't mind as much as I had before. In fact, it was a little satisfying when he came in my mouth.

"Where are we going, anyway?" I finally asked.

"Home. I sold my parents' house and bought a place in Phoenix." He looked at me and grinned. "You know you're going to be sixteen when we get there. You'll have to go back to school next fall, right?"

"I've thought about that. I've also noticed my brother has gotten into the habit of sticking his dick in his sixteen-year-old sister's mouth."

"He's probably just super horny after being locked up for two years. I'd cut him some slack. Besides, I don't think he stuck it anywhere near your mouth this morning, and it didn't end up there on its own."

"No, but I had the feeling he wanted to stick it somewhere, so..."

"Maybe you should have let him. You might have enjoyed it."

"You maybe have some first-hand experience in what that feels like?"

"Ok, enough. You're making me horny again."

"I kind of think you stay that way."

"Not my fault. My little sister is hot as hell. She's going to be deadly when she gets boobs."

"You really think so?" It made me smile when he said that. The comment about boobs didn't even register.

"Yeah, I do."

I didn't have an answer, so I just smiled to myself as we drove on in silence until it was time to stop for the night. Tomorrow, we'd be in Phoenix, and I'd begin the journey of figuring out how to live as a sixteen-year-old girl in high school; a sixteen-year-old girl with no boobs, and probably a mafia contract on her head.

This time, we stayed at a Holiday Inn Express and I got a bed to myself. I actually missed having Mike next to me when I drifted off to sleep, but it was for the best.

The house was amazing. Empty but amazing. Huge kitchen with a big family room. The master suite opened to the backyard, where the infinity pool yielded to a vast expanse of the Arizona desert. The master bath was impressive, with a large jacuzzi tub, a separate shower and a massive walk-in closet. Mike was either very vain, or he was planning on having someone join him in there.

Upstairs were two smaller suites, each with their own bathroom and a nice-sized closet. If I was going to be a girl, I was planning on filling mine up as much as I could. The game room in between the bedrooms had two nooks, one I was going to claim for schoolwork. I had always dreamed of some place I could set up my computer and play with my pictures. Someplace that wasn't using a laptop on the kitchen table until it was time to set the table for dinner.

I chose the room that wasn't directly over the master.

An hour after we got there, someone knocked on the door, asking if we could move the Jeep so they could unload the truck with all Mike's stuff.

"You drive?" Mike looked at me.

"Sure." I nodded and shrugged. "Not that I ever got much chance to, but I have my license."

"Perfect. You move it. It's yours after all." He tossed me the keys to the Jeep. "Try not to get lost." It had a GPS that already had the address in it, so I took that as permission to go explore, at least the neighborhood.

I cocked my head and gave him a slightly pleading look.

"Oh, yeah. That might help." He dug five hundred dollars out of his wallet and handed it to me. I didn't know what Mike did, but this house, my Jeep, five-hundred dollars like it was nothing. It was lucrative.

I drove past a golf course and found the high school. It looked like classes were just letting out. There was a shopping center just down from the high school. I pulled in and headed into the ice cream shop. Double dip of Mocha Almond Fudge, and I grabbed a table outside so I could people watch as all my soon-to-be classmates made their way in.

It didn't take five minutes before two guys came up to my table. I could have written the script.

"Um, hi. I don't think I've seen you before. Are you new here?"

"Moving in today. My brother wanted me out of the way, so, ice cream." I smiled and motioned for them to sit down.

Mike and I should have worked out a story. I kept it simple. My parents died in a car crash. Mike and I needed a change and his job offered to send him here. Home schooled. I didn't really like to play sports, but I liked to watch the Bears and the Cubs. Couldn't care less about basketball.

Then I turned the tables, asking them about the school, the city, the neighborhood. It got awkward occasionally, but mostly, it just flowed.

"Can I call you, maybe show you around sometime?" The first guy asked me for my number.

"Sorry, I don't have a phone. My parents were funny like that." It was true. It was actually my grandfather that refused to let me get a phone. I never knew why. He thought it was a waste of good money or something. "Maybe I can talk my brother into getting me one. Why don't you write your number down and I can call you when I get one?"

I got his number and put it in my purse and got up to leave. His name was Randall. Maybe he'd let me call him Randy. This was going to be so different from back home.

I had been gone long enough that the truck was pulling away from the house. Mike's black Silverado was in the driveway. What the hell?

There was someone helping Mike move furniture around the family room when I walked in.

"Um, hey. I'm back. Got some ice cream and met some kids from school. I think this is going to be alright."

"Good. This is Jimmy. He's a friend. We can trust him."

I smiled. He waved. I jumped in and helped where I could. I wasn't moving anything of any consequence, but I made the beds and put the dishes away in the kitchen. That kind of stuff. When we were done, it looked nice. I had Toni's stuff in my room, and that was awkward. She wasn't as girly as I expected, so my transition would be a little easier.

Mike's stuff was in the guest room, and his parents' stuff in the master, mostly because their massive king wouldn't fit anywhere else.

We ordered pizza, and I told Jimmy my story. I was clueless why Scaletti wanted me, but he'd killed my family to send me a message. Whatever it took, I was going to make him pay for that. I just had to stay alive long enough to make it happen.

Jimmy's wife Scarlet came over to pick him up and the number of people that knew about me was now four. It made me nervous when it was just me and Mike.

My mind was a tempest of images and memories, fears, and doubts. I saw the ambulances at my house in Chicago. Then Scaletti's man pointing the gun at me. I thought about everything that could go wrong. Sleep was nowhere to be found.

"Mike." I crawled in bed with him, nestling as close as I could get. "Is this really going to work? Do you think people will believe I'm a girl, that they won't find me?"

"I think people already think you're a girl, and with Scarlett's help, more will every day. After I get you set up at the bank tomorrow, she's going to take you to a doctor she knows that can see you on short notice. I think you're going to be fine. And, yes, I think this is going to work, mostly because it has to. Now go to sleep."

I rolled over onto my side, nestling back against him again. He rolled after me, wrapping his arm around me.

"Thank you for everything." I pulled his arms tight and wriggled closer. Something poked me in the butt. I laughed. I wriggled again. It poked me harder. There were a million reasons it was a bad idea, and only a handful that said it was a good one. Mostly, Mike just needed to get his rocks off and fuck the shit out of a girl again.

"I don't have to be your sister until tomorrow." I turned around and faced him.

"Are you sure?" He bit his lip. I could feel his desire burning through him.

"It's a horrible idea," I justified it in my mind. All the things Mike had done for me, the house, the Jeep, the money. I rationalized maybe Randall would take me to homecoming or prom, and he would want to, so I should at least know if it was something I could do. "But yes."

It was probably a worse idea to kiss him like I did, but I did that, too.

Mike didn't make love to me, he ravaged me. I guess that's what two years locked away will do to a man, but I wasn't complaining. He made me feel things I'd never dreamed of before. He opened doors and showed me things that I couldn't imagine being possible. Among them was that a cock the size of his would fit inside an ass the size of mine and feel so wonderful doing it.

Another was that being with Mike, being with a man, felt right. Maybe this whole thing would work because it was what should have been all along.

We kissed and fondled and fucked, we moaned and screamed. I exploded. He erupted. We made a mess of epic proportions. We took a shower to clean it all off and did it again. Holy shit, Mike had a lot of pent-up sexual frustration. He taught me I did, too.

Mike carried me upstairs and put me to bed, kissing me gently on the forehead.

"Thank you." He grinned and turned to leave.

"Thank you." I moaned back. Scaletti and all the crap he had dumped in my life were the furthest things from my mind. I took a deep breath, let out a massive sigh, and passed out.

Evidently, I already had a birth certificate and a social security card. After a written test and a driving test and a rather cute picture, I had an Arizona driver's license, too. I tried to protest at the bank, but Mike wouldn't hear it. He opened a checking and savings account and put a lot of money in both. Then he added me to his credit cards. Yes, plural.

"All the way down here, all the cheap motels, paying cash for everything, that was so Scaletti and the FBI couldn't follow us, right?"

"More so they couldn't place me anywhere near you. They could have gotten my license plates from the convenience store cameras, so I had Jimmy drive it and you and I disappeared."

I wanted to ask another question but decided to just let it go.

"Jimmy picked me up when they let me out. He drove my truck up there. We were supposed to meet at that motel where we stayed the first night. I told him what was going on and he took me to buy the Jeep. The rest, you know."

I laughed, "oh thank god. I thought you and Jimmy were all 'Ocean's Eleven' or something."

"Not anymore."

Scarlet took over after lunch, starting with a trip to a spa for a full-body wax. Girls didn't have hair in places I had hair and besides, my natural hair was dark, and I was a blonde, so.

After that, I got to strip again while a doctor did sonograms of my tummy, looking for enough fat to play with. The doctor amazed me with how much she found and what she could do with it. My stomach looked like someone had beaten me with a bag or oranges. But I had nice perky boobs and my hips had just enough curve to complement my now slightly discolored, rather wispy waist. There was this compression thing I'd have to wear for a few weeks, but I looked great.

"How often do I have to do this?" I was trying to talk through the discomfort.

"I thought you understood. Once it settles, this is permanent."

I tried not to act shocked or let my irritation with Mike show. When I forced myself to think about it, it made sense. For this to work, I had to be all girl. Hips and boobs were part of the deal. I nodded and pursed my lips. "Good. Thank you."

"I'll be the best damned girl in the world, if that's what it takes." I kept running my new mantra through my head as I let what had just happened settle.

"Come on. Mike and Jimmy are waiting for us. And tomorrow, you and I are going shopping." She was excited enough for both of us.

The dress I wore today fit a lot better after the doctor moved all my fat around, which was nice. When Scarlet mentioned shopping, I grinned, thinking about how lonely my only other two dresses were all by themselves in that enormous closet. Scarlet and I would solve that problem tomorrow. Now, I just needed to figure out how to get in the car without screaming.

I felt like Eric had caught me after school and took his never-ending frustration with being a spoiled douche out on me, which refocused me on why I was doing this. Yeah, it was worth it. I hoped so, anyway.

"I went by the school and got your paperwork filled out. There are things you'll need in your room. You start Monday. I'll go with you to get you checked in." Mike was futzing with something in the kitchen when Scarlet and I got back to the house.

"Hurts like hell, and thanks for the warning, but yeah, I'll be fine. Thanks for asking." I stormed upstairs to see what he had gotten me.

Pens, pencils, spiral notebooks, ring binders, some kind of calculator or something, all the stuff you need for school. On the bottom was a backpack and a brand-new MacBook Pro. At least he didn't scrimp on things. Not to mention, it would be perfect for working on my pictures if I ever got a camera again.

"Hey, sorry about that. I was getting this setup." He sat down next to me on my bed and handed me a new iPhone. "I'm glad you're ok. I'm in there, Jimmy and Scarlet, too. You look really nice, by the way."

"Thanks. Sorry, I yelled at you. I feel like I got beat up. And no, you can't see. You're my brother now, officially." We both laughed. Shit, that hurt.

"Mike, I know why I'm doing this, but why are you, and it almost seems excessive."

"I owe Scaletti, too, and ever since we did your hair, I see Toni. Maybe it's a way to get my sister back. I'm pretty sure the wreck was his fault."

"That makes last night really messed up. You know that, right?"

"But it was pretty incredible, wasn't it?"

I didn't answer, but I felt my face flush. I'm sure he knew I agreed.

The first day of school is bad enough. When it's April, and you've never seen the inside of the building, it's worse. I was late to every one of my classes, which didn't make the best impression on my teachers. Most cut me some slack, but there was always one that just didn't like you, no matter what.

The players may have changed, but the game was the same. I could feel myself slipping back into the old me, Little Angie, slowly seeping to the surface. I hadn't planned on calling Randal, but I needed to break the pattern.

"Hey, it's Toni from the ice cream parlor. My brother got me a phone."

"I've been looking for you. When do you start?"

"I started today. Spent most of my day lost and confused. Geometry and chemistry suck." I laughed. It was true, but I'd already taken them, so I wasn't too worried.

"Really, I thought you were a Junior."

"Nope. Sixteen last month. Just a sophomore."

We talked for a while longer. Our lunch was the same, but he and his friends usually went off campus. They officially invited me to join them tomorrow.

That was the thing I needed. Friends, or at least a group to hang out with, and, as a sophomore, hanging out with seniors, I moved way ahead in the game. That I seemed to be 'with' Randall helped, too.

For the first time in my life, I was enjoying school.

I had a pool, so we hung out at my house. Once I took the compression thing off, I could even wear the bikinis Scarlet helped me pick out. They were a little skimpy and forced me to get very good at hiding my little friend, and fast, not that I had much to hide. But still... Mike was ok with my new friends coming over to the house to hang out and even bought a small fridge to stock with sodas.

I had a Jeep, so Randall and I drove out into the desert to explore. Sometimes we would sit on top of a mesa not too far from my house and watch the sunset. That's where I let him kiss me for the first time under an amazing blanket of stars.

I was actually getting into the whole girl thing. I mean, I was dating someone.

Whatever Mike and Jimmy were into, they kept it away from the house. I'd leave for school, and Mike would head off for his job, I guess, although I had my suspicions. He kept a gun in his room; I knew that. And I probably shouldn't have some overheard conversations I had. I'd get home before him and do my homework and when he got home, we'd figure out dinner.

There was a lot of takeout, and the people at the Mexican restaurant next to the ice cream parlor knew us by name.

Scarlet became like a big sister and a month into this, I found myself completely at home with my new life.

It amazed me how much my life had changed, how much I had changed in ways that had nothing to do with pretending to be a girl. Was I even pretending anymore?

Sure, I missed my family. I thought about them every day, wondering if they'd accept me like this. I knew my grandfather wouldn't. Hell, he barely accepted me as I was before. Me as a girl would have driven him nuts.

The thing I missed most was being in the kitchen doing homework while my mom and grandmother started dinner. The smells, their idle chitchat about the day, their arguing about how much of this or that to put in the recipe they were working on.

If I finished my homework early, sometimes I would even help. Then my grandfather would show up and chase me out of the kitchen. "Not the place for a boy," he'd chide me. Like there were no male chefs in the restaurants he liked to go to.

"Ok, grandpa, it's not the place for boys." I smiled to myself.

With everything Mike did for me, maybe I should take care of him a little, too. The next day at school, I cornered Ms. Parks, my English teacher. I knew she was married and had kids. The day after, she presented me with a ring binder full of copies of recipes she had gotten from her mom and her mom's mom. That afternoon, Mike came home to a homemade lasagna with a nice salad and garlic bread. He had to do the dishes, but I think he liked the tradeoff.

He never asked and never complained, and I found I enjoyed cooking, especially for someone else. At first, I followed the recipes to the letter. After a while, I started adding a few touches of my own.

What I cooked was better than any takeout, and I liked the feeling of family it gave me. It helped that Randall liked my cooking, too. I even shared a few recipes with his mom after he raved about them a little too much. She shared some of his favorites with me, too.

What would my mom and grandmother think of what I cooked? I just knew they would want to argue about how much of this and that I put in whatever it was I was cooking. The idea of arguing with them made me smile. I guess I'd never know.

There were so many things I could do now that I would never have had the chance to do before. A big one was prom. Back in Chicago, I hadn't even thought about prom. What girl would have wanted to go with Little Angie, the loser?