Chapter 5

One day, I observed Annie entering the cafeteria, by herself. She made her way to a corner, distant from her usual haunt, and began to eat, alone.

Cathy joined me, and we chatted about inconsequentials. She noted Annie’s solitary meal, and leaned into me, asking me if I knew where Matt was. I admitted that I had missed that particular bulletin from the hospital rumor mill.

“Well, I heard from Sue Ellen, the day shift lab supervisor, that Matt abruptly came into the lab office, went into a closed door meeting with the lab director, and evidently just up and quit! She said something about references for San Antonio General Hospital, and that’s the last she saw of him!”

Not particularly caring about Matt, his work/life balance, or much of anything else involving him, I murmured something that might sound like, “Do tell?”, and wrapped myself around another bite of sandwich.

Cathy, on the other hand, appeared to be invested in this tale. Sigh. She continued. “Yep! Sue Ellen said that this happened two days ago, and his shifts at the lab have been filled by overtime. You know how Dale (lab director) HATES! To pay overtime!”

I nodded, still chewing.

Cathy scooted a little closer, and conspiratorially filled me in on the details. “I heard Annie got pregnant, and 4 days ago she told Matt! Now, she’s pregnant, in her last semester of nursing school, and no boyfriend! I hope that she successfully finishes her LPN boards! It would really, really suck to let this drama screw up all her hard work in school, wouldn’t it?”

Again, since I had, this time, successfully avoided entwining myself in her life morass, I was, fundamentally, unmoved. Yeah, it sort of bothered me how her life, and, therefore, her innocent childrens’ lives, were about to get more complicated. On the other hand, she was just about ready for boards, and, LPN license in hand, she would experience a net improvement in her opportunities. If I was going to avoid the searing pain of the hole that she would rip in my heart, I had to keep my damned nose out of her business, and stay on the sidelines.

But, I was starting to realize that every change has it’s cost. Sometimes those costs are in currency more dear than money.

I applied for, accepted, and started a job in the ICU of Enormous Hospital System. They had a well thought out, methodical orientation scheme, one that (apparently) successfully led me from pretty competent ER nurse, to Safe Even If Newbie ICU Nurse.

I found that I liked the new challenges I was encountering, and learning from the other, more experienced, unit nurses. I occasionally even felt as if I was also helping the families cope with what, really, would be a catastrophe in anybody’s life: a family member ill enough to be in an intensive care unit.

Working 12 hour shifts allowed me to finagle a schedule that had me work 3 x 12 one week, with 4 days off, and then a week of hop-skip-and-a-jump shifts. On midnights, that second week was kind of a pain in the ass.

One week, I negotiated a swap with another nurse, so I had 7 days off, and my friend had, herself, 7 days off. On my stretch off, I called Cathy, and arranged a rendezvous.

We went out to dinner, and, there, she brought me up to speed on the hospital rumor headlines. Annie, the story went, had successfully completed LPN school, and had taken, and passed, her boards. That was the good news.

The bad news was that Annie had had some sort of complication of pregnancy, and had had a miscarriage. She, Annie, had recovered (at least medically) pretty quickly, but appeared to be keeping to herself. Cathy, chattily, started again into her matchmaking spiel.

I was not buying it. “Cathy, remember my not-a-daddy thing?”

She had paid attention, it appeared. “Yep. I do.”

“Now, I’m not only not interested in being a daddy,” I continued, again lying my ass off, “But also now I live 90 miles away. Doesn’t Annie have family hereabouts?”

“Yeah, her parents have retired over in the next township, if I heard it right.”

“So, Cathy, either I commute for romance, and, if my evil plans are realized, successfully (and carnally) distract her from the LPN-to-RN bridge classes she is going to be taking, or I hook up with her, and enter into a nookie drought. Or, I capitalize upon another opportunity, wherein you and I have wild weekends together from time to time, and I do not trifle with Annie’s efforts to improve her lot in life, and therefore her childrens’ lot in life. Wouldn’t it make more sense, for her and her kids, to stay in a settled environment, near to family who could back her up, and get her self established, successfully complete RN school, than allow a schmuck like me to distract her?”

Cathy beamed. “You want me to think you are a thoughtless, selfish schmuck, but what sort of schmuck would give a rat’s ass about the children of some target morsel, would give any thought at all to the future well being of his sexual victim? See? You aren’t simply some asshole, you are a quality guy, who doesn’t want to shit on folks needlessly. And, that, mister, is only one reason I will be sure that you are very, very happy you drove all the way over here so you could have my way with me! I have a special surprise I have been saving, and I do think that you will be the first guy to enjoy it!”

That took me back a bit. “So, what is this surprise you have for me?”

She smiled, mysteriously. “No, no, no! If I told you, it would not be a surprise! You will simply have to wait! All will be revealed, so to speak!”

Cathy chuckled at her own pun, continuing, “Yep, revealed, it will be! Very revealed!”

We passed the rest of the meal in conversation, about other topics. Once we had concluded our meals, sipping our coffees, I waved to the waitress, asked for the check, paid, and we wandered out into the night.

I drove the familiar route to Cathy’s place, parking in her drive. She fumbled with her lock as I retrieved my backpack of clothes, joining her in her living room. I tossed the backpack onto the floor, toed off my shoes, and turned into Cathy’s embrace. I savored her familiar curves, molded against my chest and pelvis, and ran my hands up and down her back, coming to rest on her firm ass.

She wriggled against me, and we snogged. Eventually, she broke our clinch, drawing me to her bedroom by the hand. As she flicked on her light, I beheld ropes secured to the four corners of her bed’s frame. Turning to my paramour, I queried her. “Does this mean you would like to explore being tied up during sex?”

She smiled, reaching up to smooch me. “Yep! I’ve never been tied during sex, before. With previous boyfriends, trusting them that much seemed like a poor idea. You, on the other hand, I know pretty well, and you have always tickled my fancy. In addition, you always appear to be tuned into how I’m reacting, and that makes me think that I can trust you to stop if things get too intense for me. Besides, being tied up is only part of my surprise!”

I cocked an eyebrow at her. “Oh? What else do you have in your plans for the evening?”

“Well, nobody has ever fucked my ass. I do think that you will be the perfect guy to introduce me to the joys of buttsex! Are you interested?”

I stepped back, and spun my hand, inviting her to pirouette before me. She accommodated me, gracefully twirling around, coming to rest facing me.

“Sweetie, you are pretty, and you are hot. Gotta tell you, your ass is a thing of beauty, perfection in complex curves! You have noticed that I really enjoy fucking you from behind, right?”

Another smile, impish, was her response. “Yep!”

“So, how dense would I have to be, to be uninterested in fucking your fine ass? I’ll give you that I’m occasionally slow on the uptake, but, geez! That would be an entirely new level of ‘D’oh!’”

Her face grew serious for a moment. “So, Mark, you understand that I’m new to all this assfucking, right? You’ll take it easy with me, right?”

I swept her up in a hug. “You betcha, sweetie! You can set the pace, hell, you can even bring everything to a complete stop, if you feel like you need to! I want you to have a good time, and, if I am lucky, you will have such a good time, that you will want to repeat it from time to time!”

She relaxed. “I just knew you would understand! So, Mr. Assmaster, how should we begin? I place my ass in your capable hands!”

I licked her ear just a little, and nuzzled her neck. She purred. “Honey, let’s start with a shower, and then let me schtup you through a couple of climaxes. Once I have left you a panting limp mess of post orgasmic goo, well, relaxing so you can have a good time ought to be easier!”

“Why, thank you, kind sir! Anytime you are ready!”

I swept her up in my arms, and carried her into the bathroom. Settling her onto her feet, I started the shower, and turned.

Cathy had decided that she was not going to wait for me, and was just settling her brassiere onto her blouse as I straightened and turned.

I was again captivated by her firm breasts’ movement, as she turned to her pants, releasing the button, lowering the zipper, and shimmying her garments to the floor, ending with a graceful kick, sending pants and panties onto the growing pile.

I everted my own shirt, and kicked my own pants and shorts onto the laundry pile there in the corner of the bathroom. I followed her round ass into the shower, and we clinched beneath the warm water. I motioned her to turn, and washed her back. Reaching between the globes of her butt, I tickled her anus, gradually introducing first one soapy finger, then another.

Cathy braced her hands on the shower wall, and thrust her derriere back towards me. “How can something so nasty, feel so nice? Is your dick going to feel the same, when you are fucking me there?”

I kissed her neck, and told her, “Can’t be sure, but other lovers have spoken favorably about it. Since this is your maiden voyage in these seas, maybe we ought to hold off on the ropes tonight, and maybe try them another time?”

She peered at me over her shoulder. “Did you just pass on the opportunity to tie me up and buttfuck me? I thought that was kind of high on most guys’ things-to-do lists?”

I smiled, and kissed her neck again. “Yeah, I enjoy tying a woman up and enjoying her favors. I also enjoy buttsex. On the other hand, maybe if we gradually work our way into things, you will have a better time, and maybe be more willing to consider a repeat performance. Anyway, that is what I am thinking. It’s your butt, they are your ropes, and you ought to make that call.”

She closed her eyes, and experimentally clenched, and released, the muscles in her derriere upon my intruding digits. I waggled them within her, and she sighed.