Chapter 6: Natalie
It was Saturday morning, and I was on Michaela’s sofa, panicking about last night’s events. I wasn’t sure what I was thinking. When I talked to Major, he put me at ease. I didn’t mean about ending up in a sex club, he made me feel okay about everything. Work didn’t matter. Nathan didn’t matter. It was just the two of us talking.
Major managed to make me laugh twice, and I hadn’t laughed in a few months. My brain stopped working when he wished me luck with being adventurous. I wanted to try it right there, with him.
All of those things didn’t matter. That was an extremely irresponsible decision on my part. I didn’t have sex with strangers—ever.
“I’ve gone absolutely insane,” I moaned.
I had bought myself two coffees this morning. There were extra shots in each—hopefully enough to shock me back to my senses. I clenched both in my hands as I sat down on Michaela’s couch. When I’d told her the story, I had been pacing uncontrollably, but I had gotten ahold of myself.
“You want to slow it down a little? You’re going to give yourself a heart attack with that.” Michaela reached to take one coffee, but I swatted her hand away.
“If I have a heart attack, I can restart my life and repent.”
“You’re not even religious,” she said.
“It may change with a near death experience. They’re on to something, with the forgiveness thing.”
“I don’t know, Natalie.” Mark popped out from the kitchen. “I think it’s bad ass you did that.”
Once you get married, all secrets go to your spouse. I’d learned to say everything in front of Mark, because he’d know anyway.
I sat my coffees on the table and buried my face in a sofa cushion. “I don’t.”
Michaela rubbed my shoulder. “You know, you just went too hard for your first adventure. We’ll try something easier next time, like snorkeling.”
“I’m finished being adventurous, forever. And you know I’m terrified of the ocean.”
“Ish jush firsh.” Mark emerged from the kitchen, stuffing leftover pizza in his mouth.
“Sharks are also in the water,” I reminded him.
“I take it you’re not going back then,” he said.
If I was being honest, I’d loved every moment of it. I had never kept a man on the brink of an orgasm before. It was so hot having Major moaning, completely at my mercy for his release.
Nathan would have never wanted something like that. He had certain ways he liked to have sex, and that was all we ever did. Giving Major a blow job was sexier than anything Nathan and I had ever done together.
Vertigo had given me an artificial confidence that worked only in that room. I normally would never have done something like that. But I liked the new persona; it was completely different than my conservative self.
I had to stop thinking about the details or I would get turned on. It would be impossible for me to return to Vertigo. First, I had never wanted to have casual sex. My guiding sexual principle was to only be intimate in a relationship. That way, there were no STDs or unwanted feelings.
Second, even if I did return, what would happen if someone recognized me? I would die if it was anyone from work. The most important thing in my life was my job, and I took it seriously. God forbid I became Natalie, the accounting manager who was into freaky sex.
Lastly, I needed to be looking for a husband. I was twenty-nine years old with no prospects in sight. I’d have to date my potential husband two years before we were engaged, and another year before marriage. Not to mention the issue of children. I cringed, practically feeling my ovaries shriveling.
I could never go back. Major was a nice guy, and I’d had fun, but it wouldn’t work out.
“I’m not going back,” I responded.
“Mhm. So, what’s next on the agenda then?” Mark asked.
“I just said I’m done with being adventurous.”
“To which I disagree. We’ll pick out something different.” He took another bite of pizza.
“For once, I actually agree with Mark,” Michaela mused.
“You’re finally beginning to understand, baby.”
“Don’t push your luck.” Michaela scowled at him.
“Okay, whatever. Back to the point. Why don’t we find you a new hobby?”
“Such as?” I said, shooting him a skeptical look.
“How about rock climbing next week?” he suggested.
“Rock climbing?”
“Yeah. You’re afraid of heights, right? It’s also exercise, so that’s a bonus.” He shoved the last of the pizza crust into his mouth.
“Alright.”
“Okay, Mark.” Michaela approved. “I still want to go to a club with you, Natalie. We’ll just choose a different one.”
“It’s going to take time for that,” I sighed.
* * *
PATRICK
“I can’t believe I thought this would be a good idea,” I mumbled.
“What, you don’t want to see your little brother on a daily basis?” Scotty sat a box on my living room floor. I had been unpacking for days, and my apartment was still littered with them. Moving was a bitch.
“I swear to god, if you come by daily, I will murder you.”
“But I live two apartments over!”
“You have two neighbors right next to you, and you don’t visit them every day,” I stated.
“Yeah, but I don’t know them.”
“Oh, I’m pretty sure you know the guy to the right very well.” I raised my eyebrow at him.
He waved his hand to dismiss my statement. “It was a one-time thing.”
“Uh-huh. Either way, you come to this apartment every day and I will murder you. I like my alone time.”
It was the truth. I spent all day socializing at work and it was exhausting. On the outside it looked like I was an extrovert, but I was just really good at fooling people. I was actually an introvert, and when I got home I wanted to be alone.
“But you’re the one who can cook,” he whined.
“I didn’t move here to be your personal chef, Scotty.”
“Then why did you move here?” He flung himself on my sofa and dramatically threw his hand over his forehead.
“It’s close to work. Unfortunately, they only had an opening close to this guy I’ve known for twenty-nine years.”
“I heard that guy is an asshole.”
I snorted. “Yeah, he really is.”
“Well we’re definitely related then. Why haven’t you been picking up Mom’s phone calls?” He gave me a disapproving look, as if I should be picking up every call from the woman who raised me.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to talk to her. The thought of having a conversation with her made me want to smash my head in a wall. Every time she called, the conversation inevitably turned into when I was getting married and having kids. It was so much work dodging those questions.
“You know why,” I muttered.
“Well yeah. But can you blame her? You’re her only hope for grandchildren.”
“You could always buy eggs and use a surrogate.”
“And deal with a hormonal woman for nine months? No thank you.” His face turned into a look of disgust.
“Well, she’ll get them eventually.” The statement might have been a lie. I had never found a girl who could keep my attention for more than a month. Most of the women I was with were one-night stands. My sex life was fucking women and ending it.
At thirty-three years old, I had never been in a relationship. It wasn’t something that bothered me. If I miraculously found a girl I wanted to stay with, I would date her. But it had been so long that I didn’t see that happening. It was never an issue until my mom started bothering me for grandchildren.
“I’m guessing you think that marriage will chain you down,” Scotty said.
“Uh, I guess?” I wasn’t sure how to respond. He was half right. Well, maybe about a quarter.
“I can read these things. And I found your box of sex toys while helping you move. Boxes, rather.”
“What the fuck!” I had to turn away from him so I didn’t have to look him in the eye.
“I’m not judging.”
I placed my elbows against the kitchen bar and let my face fall into my hands so Scotty couldn’t see how red my face was. The granite was cool against my elbows, and I wished I could place my heated face against it. I was mortified my little brother had found my sex toys.
“Don’t want to talk about your collection?” He tried to say it seriously but burst out laughing halfway through the sentence.
I put on the same face I made while talking to employees and faced him. “This is not something I want to discuss with you.”
“Fine. Are we going rock climbing tomorrow?”
“Obviously. Now get out of my apartment.”
“Heh, okay. See you later, Pat.”
My fingernails dug into my scalp as I scratched the back of my head. It had been awhile since I was this embarrassed. Hopefully he hadn’t touched anything. I always sanitized everything after using it, but I would die if I found out my little brother had touched the anal beads I shoved up girls’ asses.
It wasn’t as if I needed another problem plaguing my mind. I hadn’t been able to get Daisy out of my head since the night I left the club. Every time I let my thoughts wander, they would go back to her. The way she sucked my dick had blown my mind. Her personality added to how hot she was, too. Daisy had gone from freaking out she was in a sex club, to wanting to suck my dick through a glory hole. My dick began to stiffen from just thinking about her.
I knew I shouldn’t get too attached—she probably wouldn’t show up on Friday. She probably regretted her actions and had just been caught up in the moment. Which was unfortunate, because I didn’t know if I’d ever have another blow job quite like that.
It would be insane if Daisy’s pussy was as magical as her mouth. No, no, that was not something I should be thinking about. She needs to be out of my head by Monday. The last thing I needed was to be getting distracted at work with this huge marketing campaign coming up.
Hopefully rock climbing would clear my mind.
* * *
Scotty and I walked into Rock Sphere, the rock climbing gym we go to. The two of us had started climbing together when I was sixteen years old. In the old days, we were very competitive, always trying to best each other. The majority of time it was me—but it was partially because I was three and a half years older than Scotty. It was hard to brag when I was besting a thirteen-year-old. Fortunately, as we got older, our competitiveness faded, and now we climbed for fun.
No matter the weather, the AC in the place was always on full blast. Even when I was overheated from scaling the walls, I could always feel the icy breeze on the back of my neck. I lived in California because I enjoyed the weather; I didn’t particularly like being blasted with cold air. I yanked my long sleeve shirt down further.
Other than that, I loved this place. There was something for people of every level. In the front of the gym, there were kids climbing and beginner walls. Scotty and I headed to the back, where all the seasoned climbers were.
“God, he’s so handsome!” Scotty declared.
He was referring to Noah Evans. I wasn’t very fond of him, but he was here every Sunday too, so he had taken to climbing with Scotty and me.
“I don’t think I’m the right person to be discussing that with. Also, you know he likes girls.”
“I can dream.” My brother clasped his hands over his heart.
I rolled my eyes. “You do that.”
“The Reinhardt brothers,” Noah called. “What’s up?”
Scotty began to chat like a flustered school girl in front of her crush. I just listened, nodding at things that also applied to me.
“Ah, Patrick. Did you see they’re having a competition in a few months?” Noah asked.
“Oh, yeah?” I responded.
“Yep. You going to enter?”
“Have I ever?” I hadn’t entered a competition since the end of college. That was something I did when I was younger; now climbing was just a hobby.
“Afraid I’m going to kick your ass?” He smirked.
I normally brushed off Noah’s comments. But there was something extra annoying about him today. “You know I’d wipe the floor with you.”
“Prove it.”
“What?”
“I said, prove it. Let’s do a quick run and see who gets the better time.” He clapped his hand on the back of my shoulder. “Just for fun.”
I gave him a tight-lipped smile. “For fun.”
Within a few minutes, we were strapped in at the speed climbing wall. It was the tallest obstacle in the entire gym, and the footholds were sparsely distributed. I was nervous; I didn’t speed climb on a regular basis, and Noah came here more often than I did.
“Ready?” Scotty asked, timer in his hand.
“Yep!” Noah said, and I nodded.
“Okay, go!”
I took off, scrambling for each hold. As I pushed off, grabbed, and jumped for each hold, I tried to ignore the flash that was Noah out of the corner of my eye.
My hand slammed the top of the wall. I looked to my right, and saw Noah hanging out at the top.
“I’ve been waiting for you, dude.”
My nostrils flared, and I had to focus to keep my voice at an even tone. “Well, it was just for fun.”
“It won’t be in a few months. Train up, Patrick.” He pushed away from the wall and descended toward the floor.
Asshole. I hadn’t entered a competition in years, but there was no doubt now I was locked in. I would beat Noah Evans even if it meant I had to be here every night.
Every night except Friday.