Cresting Tide (13 page)

The fact that his friend had been acting weird for the last few months bothered Nick more than he wanted to admit. He missed hanging out with the guy and decided he was not ready to just throw five years of friendship down the drain. Nick was going to find out what was bugging Jordy whether Jordy wanted to tell him or not. He could help, he knew he could. Hell, there wasn’t much he couldn’t
take care of
and he didn’t spend ten years in the Special Forces for nothing. That’s what made him so good at his other job. Well, that and what he was. Nick was still thinking about the best way to approach his best friend when he heard the door open.

Nick looked up and saw Kira and Alec entering the office. She was laughing at something he’d said as they walked toward him. Nick stood and came out from behind her desk so she could take his place.

“Hey Nick, how was your morning?” Kira sat down behind the desk as Nick stood next to Alec. Both men were about the same height but whereas Alec was toned and built like a runner, Nick was solid like a fighter.

“It was good, Kira.” He smiled down at her, “Mrs. Thompson just left and is scheduled to return next month. Her file is in your desk. You have Mr. and Mrs. Parkens coming in at three and Mrs. Montgomery at five.”

“Thanks Nick,” Kira replied and Nick noticed Alec shaking his head.

“What?” he turned to Alec with an innocent expression on his face.

“Nothing,” Alec chuckled, “but I don’t ever think I will get used to you being a receptionist.”

“Well, this receptionist could still kick your ass,” Nick playfully shoved him.

“Doubtful but let’s not find out eh?” Alec grinned back at him.

“Well, if you two boys are done playing ‘whose is bigger,’ I have work to do,” Kira teased them both. “I’ll see you on Thursday Nick,” she smiled up at him. “And you,” she looked at Alec, “I’ll see later.”

“Have a good one, Kira,” Nick said as he headed out of the office, leaving Alec and Kira to say their goodbyes.

^+^ ^+^

Nick decided it was past time to figure out what Jordy’s problem was so he headed over to Shadows. He knew his friend would be there even at this early hour of the day. Jordy practically lived in the club and until a few months ago, if he wasn’t at Shadows, he was hanging out with Nick

Nick let himself in by the back door and when he didn’t see Jordy in the storage room, he went out into the bar. Roni was busy cleaning and she looked up at him when she heard the back room door open.

“Hiya Nick,” Roni smiled and continued to wipe down the bottle shelf. “I gave him your message.”

“Knew you would. He around?” Nick leaned against the bar.

Roni nodded, “He’s in the basement playing plumber. Go on down.”

“Catcha later, then.” Nick turned and made his way back through the storage room door.

He heard the sound of sawing as he descended the steps into the hot and humid air of the basement. Basements, in and of themselves, were rare in Florida and it was not surprising to find this one wasn’t air conditioned. His polo was already damp by the time he reached the bottom of the stairs and started down the hall toward the noise he heard. He didn’t bother to call out to Jordy because his friend always could hear him coming. Of the two of them, Nick had the better nose but Jordy’s ears didn’t miss a thing.

Nick rounded the corner to the last room and stopped dead in his tracks. Jordy was kneeling with his back to Nick while he sawed away at a piece of PVC piping.  A cracked piece of old PCV lay on the floor next to a pencil and a measuring tape. Nick didn’t see any of it. His eyes fell onto his friend’s shirtless back and watched as black muscles worked and sweat ran in rivulets down Jordy’s back to disappear into the waist of his jeans.

Nick shook himself and stepped into the room. Jordy still had not turned to greet him so Nick reached out a hand to touch his shoulder. Jordy sprung up so fast and unexpectedly that Nick almost squealed like a little pup. The hand that was about to touch Jordy was flung wide as Nick was pulled around in front of his friend and slammed back into the concrete wall next to the pipes. Jordy’s forearm was across Nick’s neck and his thigh pressed between Nick’s legs… both applying pressure.

Jordy was pressing into Nick and growling as Nick froze and tried to breath. As much as Nick wanted to enjoy the close contact Jordy was giving him, if he didn’t get air soon he was going to blackout.

“Dude?” Nick rasped.

Jordy pulled himself away from Nick almost as quickly as he had attacked but the movement wasn’t quick enough for Nick to miss Jordy’s arousal. It was a fleeting awareness as Nick gulped deep draughts of much needed air back into his lungs.

“What the fuck, man?” Nick accused his friend when he could speak again.

“Damn it Nick, what the fuck are you doing here sneaking up on me?” Jordy yelled back as he ran his hand over his corn-rowed head and turned away toward the door.

Nick was upright and moved quickly into the doorway and spread his arms out until his hands touched both sides of the frame, preventing Jordy from leaving. He was going to find out what their issue was once and for all.

“What the hell is your problem Jordy? You have been avoiding me for months now. You don’t return my calls and I have no fucking clue why your pissed at me all the sudden!” Nick stared at Jordy and waited for an answer. When Jordy didn’t seem to be willing to give one, Nick continued in a calmer tone, “Talk to me man. Whatever it is… let me help. Don’t shut me out.”

Jordy stared angrily at Nick blocking his escape. He didn’t want to talk to his friend. Hell, he didn’t even know what he could say. He was still working it out himself and it was the ‘it’ he needed more time to figure out. Jordy stormed up to Nick and stopped scant inches from him. He towered over Nick by a good seven inches and stared down at his friend.

“Not now Nick. Get out of my way.” Jordy growled. “You can move or be moved. The choice is yours.”

Nick had never seen Jordy like this before. In the five years they had been friends, he had seen him show almost every emotion in the book but the one he was witnessing right now was not one of them.

“Come on man, you’ve been acting strange since…” Nick trailed off as he noticed Jordy’s jaw tense and a slight tick at the corner of his eye. “Ah, fuck dude. You can’t be upset about that can you? It wasn’t anything. No big deal, I mean, we all do shit when we’re drunk man, you know that!” Nick knew he hit the nail on the head.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Jordy put his big black hands under Nick’s armpits and easily lifted him out of the doorway and sat him down again inside the room.

“It won’t happen again, Jordy, I swear.” Nick said quietly as his feet touched the floor.

Jordy just nodded to his friend before he turned to leave. “I just need some space right now Nick. Just give me some space, okay man?”

“Yeah Jordy, whatever you need. You know how to find me and I’ll be here when your ready to hang again… like old times.” Nick trailed off and Jordy, with his back still to Nick, only nodded and left the room.

~*~*~

Read on for a sneak peek of Barely Restrained…

2011

Tampa, Florida

The night club Shadows, in Tampa’s party district Ybor City, was still going strong after almost three years. Patrons seemed drawn to the interior that danced within the shadows. The owner of the club, Alec, had made Shadows the prime place to be on any night of the week. He not only kept the cover cheap while offering theme nights but also designed the club so that privacy could be found anywhere except the dance floor.

The recessed alcoves and black sheer draped tables concealed the club goers from prying eyes which was what the patrons especially wanted tonight. Sunday’s was swinger’s night and the slowest night of the week. Though slow was a relative term. Instead of the two hundred and fifty patrons they usually served, they only served about one twenty tonight. Roni enjoyed serving the swingers even if she had to decline offer after offer to join them but that wasn’t any different from any other night at Shadows. Regardless of the form she changed into, she was always hit on and usually by both sexes. The tips were good so she couldn’t complain.

It was relatively early, barely eleven, but the club was packed with the regular swingers and those who were new to the ‘scene.’ Roni could always tell the difference between the two groups of couples who appeared on Sunday nights. The regulars were veterans to their lifestyle choice and moved though the crowd with ease to talk to their choices for the evening. The new swingers were more hesitant and usually only one of the pair did the cruising through the club. There was no predicting which one of the couple would be the cruiser. Sometimes it was the wife or girlfriend and other times it was the husband or boyfriend. Roni learned long ago, the cruiser of the new pair was usually the one who talked the other into experimenting with the lifestyle. Sometimes the curious newbies would return the following week and sometimes not. Not everyone was able to compartmentalize the physical pleasure rewarded by swinging without the emotional baggage of jealousy creeping in. There was a third group who came to the swinger’s night and they were accepted into the fold by the veterans as readily as the curious couples. They were the uncoupled who were looking to have a good time; men and women alike who sometimes ended up together with a coupled pair.

Roni enjoyed watching the crowd and found Sunday to be her most entertaining night of the week. Swinging wasn’t really her thing though she had been with multiple partners at the same time before and even though some of the couples were attractive, more were not. She knew this made her shallow in some sense and that attractiveness had nothing to do with the sexual skills of a partner but she liked her bedmate’s appearance to turn her on as much as their skills between the sheets.

“A mimosa, a chocolate martini, Jack on the rocks, and a screwdriver,” Cin ordered from the waitress station. Roni nodded to her as she began mixing the drinks. Cin was short for Cindy even though she told the customers it was short for Sinful. She was a new waitress to Shadows and a real head turner. Her distinctive oriental appearance, almond shaped eyes and jet black waist length hair, made her popular among the patrons. The only thing that marked her as having a mixed heritage was the size of her breasts and her height. Roni couldn’t help but think of the movie Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon every time she looked at her and she was probably a tiger in bed as well. The idea of sleeping with Cin crossed Roni’s mind when the girl first started at the club and even though Roni could do it by taking any form she wished and the waitress wouldn’t be any smarter to the fact it was really Roni, she dismissed the thought. Roni still wasn’t sure if Cin was a ‘norm’ or not and until she knew for sure, she wouldn’t act on her curiosity. That was her only rule: sleep only with the ‘norms’ and since her last assumption had been way off base, she wasn’t going to make that mistake again. She brought enough of her own craziness to the table as a changer to not want to add more by engaging with another unique species. Norms were simple, straight forward and only brought their human baggage with them.

Roni placed the drink order on Cin’s tray. “On Jack’s tab,” Cin said and smiled her thanks before disappearing into the crowd to make her delivery. Jack and Jonnie, his wife, were regulars on Sunday’s. Not only veterans to the lifestyle but the somewhat official welcoming party for those in the scene. They were the ambassadors for the FSG, Florida Swinger Group, in Tampa and the ones who approached Alec about having the swinger’s night at the club. The swingers night started out as a once a month affair at Shadows but soon grew to bi-weekly event and when the swinger’s numbers soon dwarfed the 80’s night crowd, Alec made them a weekly staple.

Roni turned and scanned the customers who were standing at the bar to ensure no one was ready for a refill. That was when she spotted the new comer. He was of average height for a male and leaning against the bar but that still made him taller than her own 5’4 frame. He had either light brown or sandy blond hair (it was hard to tell in the dim lighting) which was cut short in the back but left longer in the front so that it fell to cover one side of his face as he looked out over the crowd. Roni approached him to take his order and his attractiveness was confirmed. She couldn’t help but wonder what he was in the market for as he turned his gaze to her and she waited for him to order.

~%~ ~%~

Zac looked around Shadows with interest at the swingers mingling with one another. He had already been approached three times, once by a woman and twice by men, with invitations to join them. He was undecided if he would take any of them up on their offer. Swinging wasn’t really his lifestyle but sometimes he was surprised at how close the swingers entertainment ran to his own preferred scene. There were several clubs where he could go for his own scene but he wasn’t looking for that tonight. It was through a mailing list that he’d heard about Shadows swinger’s night and on a whim decided to check it out. He was glad he had.

He caught sight of the cute bartender as he made his way to the open space he was now occupying at her bar. She was not the voluminous beauty he would have expected to find tending bar on a swinger’s night but her choice of style gave her an attractive appeal. She was small, both in height and build but her proportions were just right. Her short spiked black hair appeared to have colored tips that were either purple or burgundy depending on how the light from the dance floor fell upon them. Even the piercings around her eyebrow and the corners of her lips did not distract from her cuteness but instead seemed just right on her.

Zac watched as she expertly made several drinks for the sexy waitress who was standing at the other end of the bar and he couldn’t help but compare the two. The tall oriental girl was by far the more beautiful of the two but experience with women who looked that good told him that she would be more trouble than she was worth and likely to balk at trying new things. The bartender, on the other hand, obviously had no fear in that department. Anyone who chose to be different from the crowd usually had an open enough mind to go with their independence.