Chapter 14: And Here’s A Hand

Katelyn and I walked into Johnny’s bar, hand in hand. Jessica saw us the moment we came through the door, gave a shriek of joy, and ran to us. Katie got the first hug, as I expected, and as was appropriate. But mine was longer, and was accompanied by a searing kiss on the lips. She led us over to the corner of the bar, where there was a reserved sign in front of two stools. I wiggled out of my coat, then helped Katie take hers off. Jess stepped back to take a look at her sister.

“Wow! Looking good, baby girl! Where’d you get the new dress?”

“Alex let me buy it today, on the way home. I wanted something nice to wear for tonight.”

“Nice doesn’t begin to describe it. Alex, did you help her pick this out?”

I held up my hands. “Not guilty. She didn’t even let me go into the store with her.”

I sat on one of the stools that Jess had reserved for us, and tried not to check out the view up Kate’s dress as she wiggled up onto hers. But I couldn’t help but notice, and not for the first time, how nice her legs were. Jess brought me a rum and Coke, and poured her sister a ginger ale. John, the owner of the bar, came over and gave Kate a hug and a kiss on the cheek, then held out his hand to me.

“Katie, you look more beautiful every time I see you. I’m so glad that you and Alex are here with us tonight to ring in the new year. Order anything you want to eat. The food’s on me.”

He moved off to greet other customers, and a short, curvy blonde came over and hugged Kate as well. Then she turned to me.

“Hi. I’m Carrie. I’m the other half of the bartending duo. You must be Alex. Jess has been talking about you non-stop. It’s great to meet you.”

We sat for a minute and watched Jessica work. She really was amazing. She could mix half a dozen drinks all at the same time, and have them in the hands of the patrons or the waitresses remarkably quickly, all with a smile. Each customer, as I had noticed before, got a quick word as Jess went past. Most got a smile, some a touch on the hand, one or two a wink. It was obvious that everyone there adored her. And while a lot of the customers were men, the women who were there seemed to love her too. It wasn’t just that she was good looking. It was that she enjoyed her job, and she was good at it, and it showed.

Kate and I decided that we’d munch through the evening, instead of ordering a real dinner, and agreed to get some wings and some potato skins to start. I remembered how good the wings had been 8 days earlier, when I first visited this place, and I was looking forward to eating them again.

The wings were as good as I recalled, though once again, it might have been the company that made them taste so good. All in all, we had a very pleasant evening. Kate and I chatted and laughed, sometimes alone, sometimes with Jess, sometimes with John or Carrie or one of the waitresses (all three of whom stopped by to introduce themselves), sometimes even with one of the regular customers. Jess kept my glass from being empty too long, and made suggestions of appetizers as well. And whenever Jess had a few minutes free and came to sit with us, Kate filled her in on the details of the time in Ottawa, talking about all the fun places I’d taken her to and the great food we’d eaten and how cool my condo was.

At about 11:30, one of the guys I’d pegged as a regular stood up and called for everyone to listen up. When the chatter of conversation had died down, he took a swig of his beer, cleared his throat, and began to speak.

“Friends, in a few minutes we’re going to ring in a new year. But before we do that, I want to say something. Those of you who know me, know that I have no blood family left anymore. You’re my family now. And I’m grateful for the support you’ve given me through these last 12 months. I wouldn’t have made it without you. I’m hoping the new year is better for all of us, and especially for me.

“But as we say goodbye to the old year, I want to say that it ended well for at least some of us. The best-looking bartender in the whole damn city is off the market.” (There were a few chuckles at this point, and Jessica started to blush, while Carrie pretended to be offended.) “Jess, you’ve always been gorgeous, but damn, girl, you’re looking positively radiant tonight. I think that has a lot to do with that man sitting on the stool at the corner of the bar, who hasn’t taken his eyes off you since he came in here tonight. So before we toast the new year, let’s raise our glasses to the happiness of Jess and her new man!”

Glasses were raised in the air and clinked against one another, and Jessica’s name rang out through the room. She gave a little wave, then went and hugged the man who’d toasted her, giving him a kiss on the cheek. Then she came and kissed me before stepping back behind the bar.

John turned the TV on, then, so we could get ready for the countdown. The waitresses, aided by Carrie and Jess, made the rounds to make sure everyone had something in their glass. As the final minute of the old year began, we all stood, and at 15 seconds out everyone began to count. Jess slid over between Kate and I, and when the clock reached midnight she gave me a hug and kiss, and whispered that she loved me. I told her I loved her too, and said that I hoped the new year was as amazing as the past week had been.

Then she moved over and wrapped her arms around Kate, and kissed her too. They both looked at me, and opened their arms, and I joined them. And then somebody started singing Auld Lang Syne, and before I knew it everyone in the place had linked their arms together and was singing along. Somehow, the girls managed to position me so I was in between the two of them. And I don’t think that I’ve ever been happier on any New Year’s Eve than I was at midnight that year, arm in arm with those two young women.

Things began to wind down, then. The bar would stay open until 2:00, but people began to trickle out. Jess had less to do, and stayed close to us. At 1:00, John asked the staff to gather round. He thanked them all for their work, and asked if anyone wanted to leave early. He’d still pay everyone for the next hour, but there was no need for the whole staff to stick around.

Every eye looked at Jess, then at me. She smiled and said she’d be glad to go home, if everyone was sure. One of the waitresses also said she’d go, because she had to be up early in the morning to drive to a family gathering. I settled up the tab for the drinks, and we said our goodbyes, and put on our coats, and the three of us walked out into the winter night.

The girls insisted that I walk in the middle, and they each took one of my hands, as they had done a week ago when we walked home after church on Christmas Eve. It felt right, somehow, to walk with them that way. When we got home, and had our coats off, we all agreed it was time for bed. Everyone took a turn in the bathroom, and the girls went into the bedroom to get changed. I pulled on my boxers in the livingroom, and waited until Jess opened the bedroom door and called to me that they were ready.

It was strange. For the past three nights, I’d been sleeping with Kate in my bed in Ottawa. On Christmas Day and Boxing Day, I’d gone to bed with Jess, and Katie had come and joined us partway through the night. The night before we went to Ottawa, Kate had been in bed and asleep before Jess got done work, and Jess and I had snuggled in beside her. This was the first night the three of us had gone to bed at the same time. They were in t-shirts and panties when I entered the room, and were clearly waiting for me to arrive.

“Well?” Kate said, looking at her sister.

Jess shrugged.

“Alex, Kate wants to know if you’d mind being in the middle tonight.”

I wasn’t sure it was a good idea. But I didn’t know how to say that. So I answered by climbing into the bed and lying down in the centre, on my back. Kate grinned and climbed in on one side, cuddling up to me, and Jess took the other side. They both kissed me goodnight, and soon they were both asleep, with their heads resting on my shoulders. I lay awake a few minutes longer, thinking how this felt so wrong, and yet so very right.

It seemed like only a couple of hours later - maybe because it was just a couple of hours later - that I felt Jessica stretching beside me. She got up and left the room, and a few minutes later I heard the toilet flush, and then she came and climbed back into bed. Katelyn stretched then, and looked at the clock, then at us.

“I’m going to get up and go make breakfast. But it will take me a while. So why don’t you two just stay here, for like, maybe, another three quarters of an hour or so.”

She flashed us a smile, and got out of bed, closing the door as she left the room. I reached down and gently stroked Jess’s pussy through her panties. She gave me a funny look.

“What are you doing?”

“Well,” I replied, “I believe I am doing what your little sister just told me to do. I think she said as she left that I should spend the next 45 minutes making love to you, and that when we were done, she’d have breakfast ready for us.”

Jess’s eyes went wide.

“Do you think that is what she meant?”

“Yep. Why else would she have shut the door when she left?”

Jess thought for a minute. Then her eyes got big.

“You’re right. That’s what she meant. She’s set us up again.”

She rolled up on top of me, and kissed me. I could feel myself getting hard against her. She rubbed her pelvis against mine.

“So, has my little sister been teasing you?”

“Shit,” I groaned. “You should see what she’s been sleeping in.”

Jess giggled.

“She told me she’d gone shopping with your goddaughter. So she bought something sexy for you?”

I nodded.

“And it’s been getting you all hot and bothered? My poor boy must be so frustrated.”

“Well ... I kind of had to do something about it.”

She looked at me, questioningly.

“I jacked off in the shower. Every morning.”

She giggled again.

“Well, let’s see if we can do better than that this morning, then, shall we?”

And with that she pulled back the covers, and knelt beside me. She pulled my boxers down and off, then got in between my legs and took my cock in her mouth. I groaned, and reached down to play with her hair.

“Shit, Jess, that feels good.”

She pulled off and looked up at me, grinning.

“Better than your hand?”

“No comparison.”

She went back to work, and soon had me gasping for air. Then she stopped again, and stood up, and stripped. She ran a finger between her lips, and then climbed on top of me, lining the head of my cock up to penetrate her, and then lowering herself down.

“Ah,” she sighed, as she took me inside her. “I’ve missed this. Didn’t take long to develop an addiction to you.”

I would have responded but I couldn’t. I was too busy trying not to explode into her. She’d given me a headstart with her mouth, and I wanted to make sure that she came before I did. Luckily, she’d missed me as much as I had missed her. She lowered her mouth to kiss me, and her tongue forced its way between my lips, then she straightened up again, and began to ride me in earnest. Just when I thought I couldn’t possibly hold back any longer, I felt her pussy muscles grip my cock, and I exploded into her as she collapsed onto me in her own orgasm.

We lay, both of us gasping for air, for a minute or two. And then she kissed me again.

“Damn, that was good.”

“Yep. Always is with you, as I recall.”

“We should get up before we make a mess.”

“I can’t move. You’re on top of me, remember?”

She giggled.

“OK, I’ll get up. But only if you promise to come with me. Let’s go shower together.”

She stood, allowing my softening cock to slide out of her. Cupping one hand over her vagina to catch anything that came out before she made it to the shower, she grabbed my hand and pulled me, naked, down the hall and into the bathroom.

“Jess,” I said, once we had the door shut behind us. “What if Kate had been looking down the hall?”

“Then she’d have gotten an eyeful, wouldn’t she?”

I shook my head, but she didn’t notice. She had her back to me, getting the water adjusted. She stepped in, and held out her hand for me to follow. She stood under the spray to get wet, and then we traded places, and while I stood under the spray I soaped her up. We traded again, and she rinsed off, then lathered me up. As she rubbed her soapy hands over my cock and balls, I started to stiffen again.

“Do you need me to jack you off,” she asked, with a sly smile, “or will you make it through breakfast?”

“I’ll be fine if you stop playing with me!”

She let me get rinsed, and we washed our hair. I would have stayed longer with her but the water, never really hot, was already growing cold. I shut it off, and we got out and towelled off, then wrapped towels around us to run back to the bedroom and get dressed. By the time we had clothes on, we could smell the results of Katie’s labours in the kitchen. Hand in hand, we headed down the hallway again, more slowly this time, to see what she’d been doing.