Shooter (Burnout) (34 page)

Hawk gave a low whistle. “Damn,” he said. “Guess we’re redecorating.”

Tex and Jimmy filed into the room. Jimmy picked up the monitor and inspected it’s cracked screen. “This is toast,” he announced to the room, and tossed it onto the desk.

Tex eyed the posters on the floor. “Got some issues to work out, I see.”

“I can’t deal with that shit right now,” Chris grumbled.

Tex picked up one of the posters, which was nearly torn in two. “It’s a helluva thing,” he declared. “Her stomach all shredded like that. I wonder what her tits look like.”

Chris launched himself at his friend, crashing them both into the filing cabinet, his forearm laid across Tex’s throat.

“Chris,” Tex said calmly. “A large part of woman’s sexual identity is her breasts. Men don’t think about that sometimes. Just like a man and his penis and testicles. How many stories have we heard about guys making it home with one ball or needing an implant and they can’t take it so they eat their gun?

“If a woman’s breasts are mutilated or made to look unattractive it can do a lot of damage mentally and emotionally. They need a lot of counseling and sometimes even reconstructive surgery won’t help all that much. They won’t look or feel the way she remembers. It can take a long time to heal. I just wondered about the extent of what you’re up against.”

Chris hesitated for a moment and then released Tex and stepped back.

Tex clapped his former lieutenant on the shoulder. “Sorry I used that word. That was crass and I didn’t think.” He sat down at the desk and pulled out a bottle of whiskey and several glasses from the bottom drawer.

“How do you know so much about that stuff?” Easy suddenly asked.

Tex put the stopper back on the whiskey. “I minored in psychology in college. So I could get away with taking a psychology of human sexuality class and not have it look weird since my major was actually linguistics and communication.”

“To see if you were weird?” Easy asked.

Tex looked at Easy over his raised glass and then nodded. “Yeah.”

Hawk chuckled. “What was the verdict?”

Tex downed his shot. “I am certifiably normal, gentleman. Or normal enough not to pose a danger to anyone.”

“You just spank women,” Easy replied, teasingly.

Tex laughed. “It’s a little more involved than that, but the bottom line, and the most important thing to me is, I don’t hate women. I
love
women. And I love a woman to be a woman. I have no interest in humiliating them or punishing them for being female and I have no use for men who do. Some of them use kink to take their hate to a whole new and disgusting level. Some don’t even need kink, they just use their fists to bring ‘em down and keep ‘em there. Telling ‘em they’re worthless and less than a man, which is bullshit. If anything, most of them are better than men.”

“How do you figure?” Easy asked, not challenging, just curious.

Tex raised his eyebrow. “Pull a cantaloupe out of your nostril kid and then we’ll re-visit this discussion.” Easy and Hawk laughed. “My mama did it five times, while running the farm when my old man was laid up, injured from the rodeo. She kept us in boots and beans for a lot of years, just her and a few ranch hands. My old man was smart and a damn hard worker, but he wasn’t my mama. And he knew it. Knew what he had and treasured it like a man should.

“For all intents and purposes my old man was head of the household, but there wouldn’t have
been
a household without her. He never treated her with anything less than love and respect, not that I ever saw. And I’m gonna do the same with my woman. If I ever find her.

“I don’t dominate women to disrespect them. If anything, I respect them
more
. Especially the smart ones. The ones who understand the seriousness of it and choose to do it anyway. I’ve never had that, not yet, but I’ve seen other people who do and I want it. More than anything. Some people say submission isn’t a gift because it’s who they are, they naturally submit. And that might be true for some, but that’s not what I want.

“I want a woman who
doesn’t
normally submit, or at least hasn’t before. Someone who’ll only submit to
me
because she trusts me completely. That kind of thing is harder to find and if you had it, you’d treasure it more. You can find women who’ll drop to their knees when someone, anyone, snaps their fingers. But why would you want what just anyone can have? Why wouldn’t you work harder or wait longer for something that could just be yours and yours alone?

“Chris understands it,” Tex said, nodding to Chris. “At least on some level. It wasn’t easy to get Hayley to trust him, and it won’t be completely smooth sailing, even at the best of times. There are no handcuffs, but every time Slick gets in bed with him, she’s telling him she trusts him not to hurt her. And she won’t do that for just anyone. It also took a whole helluva lot for her to show him those scars and trust that he’d still accept her. Men especially are visual creatures, they can get turned off easily by what’s in front of them. Showing Chris her scars says a lot about her, but it says a lot about him, too. About what she thinks of him and the kind of man he is.”

“I’m always afraid,” Chris blurted out suddenly and everyone turned to look at him. “I’m always worried I’m gonna do the wrong thing or say the wrong thing with her. Sometimes I can’t tell for sure if I’m getting it right.” He looked at Tex. “How…how do you know what to do all the time? How do you keep from getting it wrong? I mean, if you fuck up, a woman could get hurt and it’s like that for me, too.”

Tex shrugged. “I don’t always know. Sometimes I do get it wrong. I get the signals wrong or I miss a response I should have seen. Thankfully I don’t usually engage in any activity that could result in serious physical damage. I don’t suspend them from the ceiling or anything like that. So if I fuck up, it’s almost always psychological. I hurt her feelings or she got scared of something or I pushed a button that maybe she didn’t even know she had. All you can do is stop and talk about it. Just trust your instincts. You’re a smart guy and you want to do right by her, both of which go a long way. She’s smart, too. Damaged, but still a very intelligent woman. She knows you’re not perfect. We all trusted you to lead us, and you did. Trust yourself to lead you and Hayley where you need to go as a couple.

“Look what you did, here,” Tex declared, gesturing to the pile of pin ups on the floor. “May have seemed like a mindless rage, but your instinct was to tear down every picture that intimidates Hayley because she can’t live up to that ideal with the way she looks naked. You’re protecting her. The next time she comes in here, provided she can wade through the debris of Hurricane Shooter, she’s going to notice that you don’t put as much value on appearance anymore, in as much as you ever did.” Tex stood up. “Trust it. Trust yourself. And clean this shit up, I’m not doing it for you. That’s a con of poor impulse control.”

Chapter 27

Chris looked up from the order form to see Hayley slipping into the office. She had a brown paper bag in her hands, but that wasn’t what caught his attention the most. It was her outfit. She was wearing, of all things, a short blazer with some kind of cream colored shirt underneath it, an ever so slightly short skirt and…heels. His gazed lingered on the heels the longest. He opened his mouth to ask where she was going in that outfit but she interrupted him, walking toward the desk with the bag.

“I brought you lunch,” she announced, rounding the edge of the desk. “Here,” she said, placing a hand on his chest and pushing slightly, indicating she wanted him to move out of the way. “Let me.”

He wheeled the chair back to give her ample room. As she began taking things out of the bag and arranging them, she continued to inch her way over so she was directly in front of him. She was leaning slightly over the desk, giving him a great view of her ass. He was grateful for the delivery service. But where was she going after this?

“Hayley-”

“So I brought you your lunch,” she repeated. “And I know I’ve only been your secretary for a few weeks, Mr. Sullivan, but I was kind of hoping we could do my 30 day performance review now. If you have time, of course.”

Chris was still admiring her rear end and looked up sharply at her words. What did she just say? Then a slow grin spread over his face. “Well, now…Ms. Turner…I think I have a small window of opportunity to squeeze you in.”

“Thank you, Mr. Sullivan.”

Chris lifted his hands and settled them onto her hips. He then ran his hands along the skirt, it was a tiny bit short. “I think you’ve taken some liberties with the dress code, Ms. Turner. But we’re pretty casual here, so I’ll overlook it.”

“That’s nice of you, Mr. Sullivan.”

“Mmmm,” Chris replied, noncommittal. “Take your panties down, Mr. Turner.”

Hayley gasped. “Oh, I couldn’t do that Mr. Sullivan.”

He clucked his tongue, admonishing her. “Inability to follow directions isn’t going to look good on this review, Ms. Turner.”

She peeked over her shoulder at him. “I can’t because I’m not wearing any panties, Mr. Sullivan.”

Chris felt his cock jerk behind his fly. “Is that so? Let’s take a look.” He took hold of the hem of her skirt and slowly lifted it. She was telling the truth because he was treated to the sight of her curvy little ass wiggling in front of him. She may have been missing her panties, but she did have on a black garter belt and thigh high nude stockings. He pulled at one of the straps and let it snap back into place. She jumped. “I appreciate your attention to detail, Ms. Turner. These are very nice. Now lay flat on the desk and spread your legs for me.”

Hayley leaned forward until her cheek was pressed against the wood and spread her legs further apart. Chris got an amazing view of her pussy as she did so. “So you
can
take direction,” he told her. “I’ll be sure to make a note of it.” He placed on hand on the inside of her knee and slowly slid it up her leg. She whimpered in anticipation. He cupped her pussy and found the flesh there warm and the soft curls damp. He smiled to himself.

He parted her with his index and ring finger and teased her hole with the middle one. She wiggled her hips trying to take him in. Instead, he pushed his fingertips further up and found the swollen nub there. He pressed it between his fingers. When she finally release a full throated moan, he quickly removed his hand. She made a small noise of protest. He leaned back in his chair. “Finger yourself, Ms. Turner.”

Hayley backed up just enough to slip her hand between her pelvis and desk. She rubbed her fingertips along her slit, warming it up before she worked a fingertip inside. She whimpered a little as she worked herself. She slicked her fingers with her juices and pressed them to her clit. Chris grinned. “Excellent technical skills. And you do seem to have an amazing ability to work independently. Tell me, Ms. Turner. Do you want to come by yourself? Or with me inside you?”

Hayley groaned as she rubbed her tiny button. “Both,” she gasped.

Chris chuckled. “Ambitious. I like that. I think you’ll go far here. Make yourself come, Ms. Turner. Quickly. I need to evaluate your efficiency.”

Hayley ground her hips into her hand as she worked her pussy for Chris’s viewing pleasure. She slid one finger in and out of her tight little hole while pressing the heel of her palm to her clit. She moaned loudly and Chris watched a glistening trail of pussy juice leak down her inner thigh toward the top of her stocking. He reached out and swirled his finger in it and brought it to his mouth. “God that tastes so fucking good,” he told her. She came with a gasp.

Chris stood up and unbuttoned his fly. He slowly unzipped his pants, allowing her a tiny amount of time to recover, but not so much he couldn’t build her back up to another orgasm. Even in her post-orgasmic haze, she reached back with her free hand, sliding a condom toward him on the desk. He took it and smiled. “Demonstrates knowledge of safety policies and procedures. Very important, Ms. Turner.”