Chapter 9

January 18-19

Fortunately I was going to be able to go into the plant to pass my time, but would make sure all my calls were going through, and my cell was charged, even if she was just calling to see if I had charged my phone ... but my phone never rang. The whole weekend dragged on and I failed to enjoy ANY part of it, even turning off the football games Sunday. When I went to bed Sunday night I figured I would NEVER got to sleep in anticipation of seeing Kettie, but I was wrong. Apparently wallowing in guilt and shame is tiring, I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I wasn't to stay asleep though...

January 20, 2014 (very early in the morning)

Having a hand wrap around your balls while you're in a dead sleep is a sure waker upper. I wasn't so in a deep sleep long and was quite aware who was holding the jewels for me.

"You are a fucking inconsiderate self-absorbed bastard!!" She screamed at me while I struggled to get my nut-sack out of her grip, wishing I had re thought the decision to sleep my usual commando.

"Oh KETTIE, you're hurting me!" I cried out realizing right away that struggling against the hand holding my nuts was stupid.

She let go and stared me down as the light from the hallway illuminated her face.

"I got your attention didn't I? That's the first time I was able to ALL WEEK! How could you?"

She started bawling and I moved to hold her, comfort her, but she lashed back at me harshly.

"Don't fucking touch me until you apologize and make a few promises about our relationship. I will NEVER, NEVER EVER go through another week like last week. You always say love is trust, I guess I may not love you like I believe, because I wondered if you were with someone else. I even checked on that little whore Marianne Preston. I followed her home and looked for your car there. That would be the only reason WHY you wouldn't come home to me, call me, find SOME way to get hold of me."

Her words hurt me terribly, but I deserved it. She waited for my response and I was struggling to find the right words to fix all of this.

"First off, don't EVER doubt my love for you, it is the strongest love anyone can have. Secondly, I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am for what happened and how it all came about. I was selfish, short sighted, unfeeling, and really, really stupid to take you for granted so much. Believe me, I was thinking of you, missing you, but work was just a bear with a couple projects that stole hours from my life. Thinking of you got me through each day, but I was a fucking idiot for not contacting you. I was getting home so late and leaving so early, I didn't want to call you, telling myself I would get with you later. Kettie I love you more than ever right now, knowing what it's like to not have you in my life. Please understand all the circumstances."

She was crying hard and any attempts to comfort her were swiftly swatted away as she backed into the bathroom and closed and locked the door.

After about 10 minutes of hearing her cry, stop, and then re-cry I went to the door.

"Kettie, Please come out and tell me you forgive me. You CAN'T doubt my love for you."

Slowly the door opened and she looked at me, her eyes reddened from her crying.

I smiled and held out my arms for her.

She walked by me and went to the living room where she picked up the coat she wore in and dropped on the floor. She turned to me and said in a crackled voice.

"I never REALLY doubted your love for me, I guess I just got a little crazy, but you ARE NOT touching me tonight. It's not going to be that easy. I want you so much that I'll forget how mad I was and how inconsiderate you were. I'm going home, leave me alone so I can take care of my needs ALONE, like I did all weekend. When you get home from work tomorrow, if you come home from work tomorrow, call me. Maybe I'll come over, ... and here," She said as she threw my key across the floor to me. "When I have this you assume too much of me, you think I'm your fuck doll."

If steam could come out of my ears, it would have. Her words cut and tore at me so much and I couldn't believe she could use them, and I was going to chase her outside without a stitch on and make a scene, if I had to, to fix this, ... until I realized that it was me who precipitated this whole thing, no matter how right or wrong her words were.

I never got back to sleep that night, obviously, and ended up going to work about 5:30 to make sure I got a whole day in and still could be home to see Kettie and fix things at a normal sort of hour. I tried to call her a few times during the day, but I realized her phone was probably still now locked in my apartment. When I called her home phone it just rang and rang and I supposed she was screening her calls.

If left work at 5:30, leaving 8 techs at workstations with instructions to finish anything they start, and not to stay past 7:00. I hated leaving before any of them, but I told them I had lady problems to fix, and they all understood. They had never punched out without my being there, something all the other managers could not say, for sure.

When I pulled past the Pool Bar I glanced towards Kettie's and saw she was in the window watching for me. I also saw her quickly duck out of sight, not wanting me to know she was watching. I went in and called her immediately. She answered on the second ring.

"Hello Kettie, I'm hoping you have forgiven me enough to at least talk to me on the phone, but I would prefer to do this in person." I said before she could even say hello.

"What are you going to do? Tell me that work is more important than me and we're breaking up?" she said with a snotty tone.

"Kettie, I will NEVER EVER love anyone as much as I love you right now, even though your words ripped my heart to shreds last night." I said with a catch in my throat. I truly wanted to cry over the thought of losing her.

"I was mean and vengeful, I admit, but you broke my heart everyday that you didn't call me last week. I sat in that goddam window for hours on end waiting for you to come home and must have fallen asleep to miss you every time, ... AND THEN YOU DIDN'T ANSWER YOUR FUCKING PHONE!" She said, raising her ire at the thought of it.

"I can only say the words "I'm sorry" so many times Kettie. Nothing I can say can take away what I did, just know I've beaten myself up all weekend long. I want to see you, hold you, smell you, and know you still love me." I said softly.

"Of course I still love you, you asshole! Do you think it runs away that fast. I don't see how I could live without you in my life either. Did we get too serious?" She wondered.

"No, I just fucked up. Had I put my priorities in order none of that would have happened. I want it to go back to what we had. There was nothing wrong with that, I just took you for granted that you would understand and that was wrong, and I KNOW THAT. As far as me thinking you were my fuck doll that was mean and way, way off."

"I know, it hurt me to say it, but I wanted you to know how much I was hurt. I know you don't USE me. I demand as much from you in the bedroom as you do me." She admitted.

"So, should I come over and walk you here?" I asked, trying to be cute.

"I know the way. Give me 15 minutes to shower." She said.

"You could do that here." I suggested.

"Then we would fuck before we talked and that shouldn't happen." She said adamantly.

I stayed silent and she said "See you in a few", then hung up.

We got into a long discussion about priorities and expectations once she got there and I had a real hard time getting through to her how I can just turn myself into a robot of sorts with only my goals in mind once I get to work. I explained how so much is expected of me at the plant that I sometimes just get hypnotized by the job. I love what I do and it's extremely satisfying. However, she had to know that she was the most important thing in my life, no matter what may have transpired.

She looked at me with a suspicious, but incredibly sexy, smile.

"Tell me Mattie, is there something in your command post that you have to pay particular attention to at different times of the day?"

"Uhh, sure!" I answered, wondering where she was going. "I have a progress board of each days new chipset expectations and output, up to the second. I check it at certain times during the day when I can shift work around to be sure we're "up to muster" as the plant manager puts it."

"How about every time you look to that read out, you think of me!" She asked.

"I think of you a lot during the day." I insisted.

"But when you look at that board, think of me with your penis in my mouth, just loving and sucking it to my hearts delight. Look at the board, I'm sucking your dick, the board, the blowjob, the board, the blowjob. Do you think you can get that thought out of your head?" She asked slyly.

I didn't answer as I was a little taken aback. Then, she stepped up to me. "I can see it now, you see you're behind a little bit, but who cares, I'm getting my dick sucked tonight." She said as she chuckled in my ear.

"I may have to walk around with an erection all day, if I do that."

"Mmmm, WHEN you do that, there are no ifs, Matt." She said pausing to get my facial reaction before saying, "Matt, I have no problem with you absorbing yourself in your work, but I'd like to think that in your cup of life, I'm a little more than half of the glass."

"Kettie, you're much more than half the glass. You fulfill my life." I protested.

"Mattie, you didn't talk to me for 5 fucking days and didn't seem to realize it. Don't kiss my ass for the sake of kissing it."

"No matter what I may have shown, in my heart YOU ARE the most important thing in my life. Believe what you want, I KNOW what I feel, and don't pretend to think you do." I said actually choking up a little, my emotions getting the best of me.

Suddenly she softened and threw her arms around my neck. "I can't stay mad at you, and I do believe all your words, I just want you to think of me during the day and remember WHAT you're coming home to. I pine for you all day long, even when I'M working."

I drew her into my embrace and we started to kiss and then neck furiously. Suddenly I wanted to taste her so bad. I picked her up and moved her to the sofa and went to my knees before her.

"Wait, I promised myself I wouldn't let you sweet talk me and get me fucked in bed." She protested.

"We're not in bed, and we're not going to fuck, I'm going to eat you until you scream. Then you're going to insist I fuck you." I said as I began to work her Capri pants down.

"Is it you can't resist me, or is it I can't resist you?" She said with a sigh as she lifted up to let me slip her pants off.

"Kettie, maybe it's that we love each other and pleasing each other sexually is the most intimate communication two people can have. You know you want me, no matter how pissed off you were. Would denying me sex make you happy?" I asked as I hooked my fingers in her little panty.

"NO!! For God's sake. I ache for you so bad, and have since the last time I saw you. My clit is trying to jump at your tongue.

As I threaded her panty down I bent and pursed my lips right onto her clit making her swoon and her legs to relax open. She was soaking with her sweet juices and I could barely lap at them fast enough. She called out my name and swooned, groaned and begged me not to stop until she began to puff, stiffen and cream onto my tongue. When she let the spasm go she mumbled something making me raise my head.

"What was that?" I asked.

"Get your dick up here so I can taste it and get it ready to fuck me."

"You're sure you aren't too upset with me." I kidded.

She stuck out her tongue at me as I stood and she sat up and grabbed at my underwear pulling it down to fill her mouth with me.

From that moment none of her rancor or venom showed as we spent over an hour teasing and pleasing each other until I could no longer hold back. I had come closer to cumming a few times and I had pinched the base of my cock to stifle my orgasm, sometimes leaking a little sperm, but never having a full ejaculation with full orgasm. But now I was ready. She was back in the sofa, her legs pulled back and locked in the crux of her elbows with her ass over the edge. I was kneeling on the other sofa cushion on the floor slamming her pussy with loud slaps that seemed to crackle in the room. As my orgasm began to rise I began to puff and I made direct eye contact with her, before rolling my eyes back for a moment, she knew I was at the moment of fruition.

I planned to pull out and squirt all over her, (not something we needed to do, she was on birth control), she loved getting splashed and sometimes even trying to catch some in her mouth. My 2 earlier emissions were pretty watery so I didn't expect a long shot, but I knew I could reach her breasts.

As I pulled from her to pump my load out she tried to slide forward, almost between me and the sofa as I shouted "Urrrgghhhh" as my first emissions came up. She was trying to catch some in mid-air, and she did but slowly came down in front of me and covered my cock with her mouth after a couple spurts got her forehead and hair.

There I was kneeling on that cushion with her wedged between me and sofa, spread eagle, and bent with the tip of my cock in her mouth as she lolled and sucked at whatever else I could conjure. I was drained to the point where my over sensitive cock head wanted to escape her mouth, but I could not move. My knees were somewhat trapped under her legs, but I could not move. When she finally gave up her lolly I threw my head back and gravity pulled me backwards and I rolled off that cushion to the floor. I could have just fallen asleep right there in and exhausted mess, but she crawled up and nestled her head in the crux of my neck, kissing and tasting my sweat.

We said nothing until she whispered, "best make-up sex EVER".

I tried to laugh, but I just didn't have the strength. She moaned as her body continued to make her feel good and then whispered once again, "Let's never have a reason to be away from each other for more than a day. I need you so badly. You truly complete me."

I contemplated her words and wanted to respond, but somewhere in there I fell asleep, or maybe just passed out from exhaustion.

January 21st

Somewhere during the night the calendar changed and suddenly it was Tuesday morning and on a few hours sleep I had to get up and go to work. The sound of the alarm from the bedroom woke me and as I struggled to get my bearings the sound and smell of the coffee brewing got me straight.

I got to my feet and took a throw from the back of the sofa and covered Kettie. I staggered to the shower, dressed and poured a cup of coffee into a travel mug and I was on my way. I remembered one of the techs on my team said he was bringing in cookies or muffins and that was to be my breakfast. I dragged myself through the morning until I was paged for a call about 10:30, it was Kettie.

"Hi lover!" She said brightly.

"Oooo, I can tell you're more awake than me right now." I replied.

"I think I was with the Energizer bunny last night. He kept on going, and going... (giggles)"

"I'm paying for it now, but it was worth it all. I love you so much." I whispered.

"Listen, I'll pick up and then I've got to get home. My sister texted me to call her right away, but my phone needs a charge, so I'll call her from my place. I have laundry to put in anyway. Dinner will be simple, OK? Don't be too late. I don't need the bunny to be run down before he gets here. (giggles)."

"Don't worry, I won't be late. Everytime I look at the progress board I want to come home anyway. You've got that idea in my head. I see the board, I think of your mouth." I said with a chuckle.

"Hmmm, I knew that would work. I'll see you tonight."

Ketties call perked me up a bit and my day improved greatly. After a major carb lunch, I had pizza brought in for all who wanted to stay in. I scarfed down 4 pieces of the 24 cut sausage, onion, extra cheese monster they sent. When the reception desk called for me to come and get it, no visitors were allowed into out secure building, she told me that our 23 cut pizza had arrived. I laughed at her knowing she couldn't resist the smell. When I went out to get it she had a sly smile on her face, she always sort of flirted with me anyway (nothing serious though) and she said, "Don't worry, I didn't take a corner. Remember I didn't have to call you at all (wink)."

By the time I got home I was re-energized (no pun intended) and I looked forward to seeing Kettie and seeing what she had for dinner.

When I walked in the door I found her sitting on the sofa with a box of Kleenex, red droopy eyes, and tear stains all down her face.

"Kettie, what's wrong! What's happened?" I said rushing to her side.

"We've got to throw it all away. It was too perfect! I have to go away!" She said as she blubbered hard and tried to talk around her hysterics.

"OK, sweetheart. You've got to calm down and tell me everything that's happened so we can work this all out, whatever it is." I said holding her tightly.

Slowly her tears and crying stopped, my embrace seeming to assure her.

Finally she pulled back from me and started speaking in a cry ravaged voice.

"When Marcy got back to England she had a woman waiting for her at the gate. She had found through her agency when she was due home. She held a sign that said "Shavone Campbell-Mason", my sisters name. Marcy rushed her and asked what her business was having that name.

She asked if she was Marcy and this woman began telling Marcy a story about Shavone. If she is to be believed, Shavone is, or was in Argentina, has Alzheimer's, early stages, and has been working with a group of pseudo-nuns as a missionary. They use her to cook and clean, but little more. She really can't do her "missionary" work anymore, she is no longer able to concentrate, or so she says. She wants to come home but they won't let her. She has neither the money nor wherewithal to arrange a trip back home. They think they are doing what is best for her, but have kept her out of the loop." She began to bravely tell me.

"How did this woman have this information, how do you know it's legit?" I asked.

"Let me go on. Apparently Shavone slipped out one evening and tried to go to an embassy, but it was closed and it began to rain and this woman took her in and got some of this information to her. Shavone did know where Marcy was and when the woman, whose name is Merril, said she was going to London, Shavone implored her to find Marcy. Apparently whatever religious group she WAS with knew she was getting hard to work with and they sent her home, but she was waylayed by what she called "servidoras".(Servidoras are an actual Catholic sect seemingly unrelated to the group that "held" Shavone) They convinced her that she had more duty to God to fulfill and she gave whatever money they had given her to get home to them. They move her around, and sometimes she isn't even sure where she is. Shavone claims they flew her to Argentina, Columbia, and even Singapore. How a poor bunch of nuns or more likely, pseudo religious, get access to flights like that is sort of fishy, but in any event she wants to come home. She told Merril that she's afraid sometimes to speak up to her feelings because when she does they seem to lock her away when they don't need her, and then move her around. That next morning after telling Merril her story she brought her to the US embassy the next morning and explained her whole story with Merril helping her. They said they would take care of things but that day after Merril had left her there, she saw the "servadoras" van pull up and take Shavone back. Merril tried to find her, but was told that they sent her where God needed her more. She had noted the information Chevy (Shavones nick name) gave her, last name and her sister who worked in the fashion industry from London, and used that to find Marcy. So now..." Then Kettie broke down and started bawling hard until I could calm her to at least where she could speak.

"Now, tomorrow I'm flying to London and Marcy and I are going to Argentina to look for Chevy. It's something I have to do. Going through our Embassy in London they told Marcy that they were aware of some of these religious off-shoots in some countries and wondered if they were money laundering wings of other governmental overthrow groups. They were pretty sketchy with her, but did give her some leads to follow."

Then she looked up at me with the most forlorn face and said, "Mattie I don't know when I'll be back home, and from some of the dangers they warned Marcy of, mostly exaggerated, we think, maybe I'll never get back, but it's my sister and I have to find her. She's sick and I have to find her! Right now we're figuring to be gone 2 to 3 weeks, or until we find her"

"WAIT A MINUTE!" I protested, "Why would you go to dangerous places, just you two girls, if you don't know EXACTLY where she is."

"THAT'S IT, WE DON'T KNOW WHERE SHE IS! I know I'll never be able to sleep again knowing she's out there confused and wanting to come home.

I was so divided in my feelings, afraid of feeling selfish about losing Kettie for a time, and the fact that she had her sister, a connection I knew nothing of being an only child with NO relatives.

"Marcy and I have put 25K each into an account we can use to pay for flights and what not with a list of the places the embassy said we might want to look. Argentina, Columbia, Costa Rica, Panama, and Ecuador. If we strike out there we'll try Singapore. The Secretary of State's office has assured us that the embassies of the world cooperate in these cases, which I guess are many. They won't assist in the paying ransom, they won't assist in human trafficking cases unless it's through cooperating Law Enforcement. But this will be treated as someone lost who can't make decisions for themselves. But they have warned us, if we find Chevy, and she doesn't WANT to come home, even if we suspect brainwashing, we're on our own." Kettie further explained.

"So it sounds like this happens more often than anyone might think." I said, still trying to wrap my head around it.

"Yes, it's common in that part of the world, even in places that are as civilized like we are here, like Cuenca, Ecuador. Religious groups are allowed to thrive wherever there are native people in remote areas of a country. We, the US, have no jurisdiction, but embassies will assist if a person WANTS to leave and we provide transport."

I took a lot of deep breaths trying to swallow this whole mess, wanting to have questions answered that I didn't want to have eat at me later.

"Who's going to take care of the drop ship business, you can't let that just dangle in the wind. I can do it to a point, but I know nothing of the contacts you have, the funds available..." I said stopping midsentence, sure she hadn't thought of those consequences.

"ABG Freight handles all my drop-ships and gets a 6 percent cut of every sale they handle for me and their dispatcher, a guy named Kendall, knows who I deal with seems to be an honest enough agent for me. He has connections with the 2 liquidating firms I use, and he will try to deal for me. He knows where stuff comes from and the potential customers I use over and over. He can't draw funds from my account without your OK. He'll call you at the end of any trading day to move money. If something doesn't sound right, wait to talk to me as long as you'll be able to."She explained very methodically convincing she had planned thoroughly throughout the day.

Then it hit me, "What do you mean as long as you'll be able to?"

"Mattie they've warned us that our cell phones may not always be able to work in some of these countries, no cell towers, no servers, no place to charge, but we'll always be able to go to an embassy, when there is one where we are."

"So I might not be able to talk to you and get updates on a regular basis?" I wondered beginning to doubt this whole thing.

Her eyes welled and she just shook her head like a beaten woman. The emotion of losing the sister she knew was lost had broken her down. The day before she might have told you that Shavone was likely dead, but now she felt duty bound to bring her sister home.

Still afraid of seeming selfish I walked on eggshells to ask, "So when do you leave?"

"I fly out of Albany to New York City and then to Manchester via London, tonight." She said, not being able to make eye contact.

"So, I won't expect you to be back for 3 weeks max?" I asked, already knowing that any pleading I did would be of no use.

"I'm hoping we find her right away. One Ambassador in the UK who had experience with these people says that once they know people are looking for someone IN PERSON, they will capitulate. They don't want government intervention and snooping because they always follow the money. That's one thing they don't want to happen, to have their money sources exposed." She explained in pretty good detail telling me that she and Marcy were not going into this blindly, they asked lots of questions.

Finally I had to level with Kettie. "If you think I'm going to give you my blessing on this undertaking, you're wrong. I'm dead set against it, but I know I can't stop you. I'm not aware of or do I understand the bond between brothers and sisters. You are the closest I've ever been to anyone, including my parents, my time with them was so fleeting when I was mature enough to appreciate them. Why ANY American would want to go to a foreign country, knowing what most of the world thinks of us, and what sort of animals and religion fueled idiots are out there. I fear for you already and you haven't even left yet. I'll expect you to call me as often as possible to give me updates. I promise I won't hound you, and I'll support your cause, even though I don't agree with it. Obviously, the reason is that I love you so deeply and I don't want to face the days ahead without you."

Kettie broke down crying once again and fell into my arms. Through her tears she told me she understood my feelings and that even she feared for herself, but the circumstance drove her.

She had so much to do that unless we just dropped our clothes and fucked right there, there would be no goodbye love making. That might only make it harder in the long run anyway. We didn't need to do anything to make a statement to our love, we were both aware of that. I went with her to help her finish packing and get all of her particulars for her money, her mortgage payment, her business contacts, and other vitals, most of which I already knew.

At 8:30 I drove her to Albany International and amid a flood of both of our tears we said goodbye. I'm sure the fact we might not see each other for 3 weeks, or God forbid longer, with so many variables standing in the way, came down on her as she began her journey as it did as I drove back home. I had to pull into a rest area to cry and clear my eyes. I almost felt as if she had died, in one way. We both knew that the specter of never seeing each other again existed. As hard as I tried to fight that feeling, that possibility, I could not. I worried that even I could not involve myself that deeply in my work to get her off my mind.

January 22, 2014

There wasn't much peace in my mind that night and got little restful sleep. Just as I was leaving the house for work the phone rang and I heard Kettie's voice, easing my mind a little.

"Hi, I got here a few hours ago and I actually was able to sleep on the overseas flight. We both go for shots today to complete our prep for travel. My medicals were transferred to Marcy's doctors overnight so we plan to fly out of here either at 11:30 tonight, our time, we're 5 hours ahead of you, or tomorrow at 8:45 in the morning. We have arrangements for both flights. That will bring us directly to Argentina. They're only 2 hours ahead of you. We'll fly into Buenos Aires, and then we're off to a place called Moreno. From there we don't know, wish us luck."

The word luck was the one that broke her stony façade. Her crying upset me greatly and I tried to hide that to be strong for her. Marcy must have been right there because she took the phone.

"Mattie, just be sure that we will look out for each other and we'll try to call as often as we can. We know this could be dangerous, but like a person facing uncertain surgery that he has to have, we are finding the strength. Be sure we are looking out for each other. Kettie is blowing kisses, tearful kisses, but kisses. Bye bye."

Then she hung up abruptly trying to save all of our heartstrings

.

February 14, 2014 Valentines Day

I expected to hear from Kettie this day. I had only heard from her 2 other times in the 3 weeks she had been gone. Once on the 24th of January, a short call from the US Embassy in Buenos Aires, telling me that Moreno was a dead end, but the Embassy had a possible lead and they were off to a place called Lobo. If that didn't work out, they found the servidoras had a presence in Montevideo, Uraguay and they were looking into booking passage on a ship to get there. If that didn't pan out, there were leads to Ecuador and Columbia.