Undermind: Nine Stories (23 page)

“BP’s back up.  He’s stabilizing.”

***

Devon felt secure enough about Lance’s prognosis
to depart now. He reached outward and found who he was looking for
and gently slipped inside her. He found himself looking through her
eyes into a mirror and saw an extremely pretty blonde woman’s face
as she re-applied make-up to her eyes. Once that was done, she
reached in her purse and pulled out a tube of lipstick. Devon
enjoyed the sensation of the slick, angled tip of lipstick running
over her lips. He mentally licked his lips and accidently caused
Kim to lick hers.

She squinted at her reflection in the mirror,
not knowing why she’d just done that right after she’d applied
fresh lipstick. She spat in the sink, dabbed a paper-towel on her
lips and started over again. She pressed her lips together, opened
her mouth, inserted a clean part of the paper towel between her
lips and pressed them together again.

She dropped the paper towel into a hole in the
counter beside the sink and took a step back. She assessed her
overall appearance and decided that her hair needed a little
fluffing. Then she thought, “My man better be here. I need him to
take me home and keep me from being bad. I love you Lance, and I
don’t
 
want
 
to be bad. Well, I
 
do
, but I don’t. I’m going to be Mrs.
Beaumont someday soon.”

She returned to the table, smiled at Tom, then
frowned because Lance wasn’t there. “Oh, my God. He’s
 
still
 
not
here??”

“Nope. Still not answering his cell either.” Tom
took the last piece of shrimp from the appetizer plate and replaced
it with a napkin so the waiter would take it away on his next
visit.

“Well then, what should we have for dinner? I’m
not waiting any longer. I’m hungry.”

“I was thinking steak.”

“Smart-ass.” Kim smiled at him and picked up her
drink. She looked at Tom over the rim of her glass as she
swallowed. Devon sensed her desire for Tom and also felt her trying
to suppress it. He started thinking to her:
 
Tom is cute. And he looks strong. Stronger
and more cute than Lance. Rougher. Much more
rugged.
 
He scanned her memory and
easily located her most recent orgasm. It was with Lance of course,
but he took just the physical sensation of the memory and played
that part back to her and then superimposed the image of Tom’s face
in her mind where Lance’s face had been and then amplified the
physical sensations she had felt at the time. She closed her eyes
for a second and felt waves of pleasure radiating throughout her
body.

“I don’t think he could still be in the shower.
He should be answering his phone,” Tom said.

Kim’s mind, which was reliving an orgasm, thanks
to Devon, now adapted itself to what Tom had just said and she
could see herself in a shower with Tom. “Mmm, shower,” she
mumbled.

“You think?” Tom asked, not sure he understood
what she meant.

“Oh, yes.  I mean, no!” She reluctantly
opened her eyes. “No, I don’t think he’s in the shower
anymore.”

“What
 
do
 
you
think?

Screw him,
 
Devon thought in her mind.

The waiter cautiously re-entered the room,
checking to make sure no one was pre-occupied with any of their
body parts, and then cleared his throat before approaching the
table, just to be safe.

SCREW HIM. He didn’t even show up at his own
birthday dinner and doesn’t have the decency to call or even answer
his damned phone? SCREW HIM.

“Have you folks decided what you’d like?”

“I’d like to screw him,” Kim said, looking at
Tom, and immediately couldn’t believe she’d said that even though
the words came out of her own mouth. Tom and the waiter looked at
each other. Kim blurted out, “Lance! Screw him. We’re going to eat
without him.”  Tom and the waiter relaxed now that it was
clear that Kim wasn’t expressing her sexual intentions regarding
Tom, although the waiter thought Tom could’ve benefited if
she
 
had
 
meant it that way.

They each gave their food order along with
requests for new drinks.

Screw him,
 
Devon said again in Kim’s mind. He summoned up
her recall of her last orgasm again and her imagined scene of her
and Tom in the shower. Now that she’d expressed anger toward Lance,
she started feeling at home with it. The alcohol and sexual desire
rounded off the hard edges of the anger so that it became something
acceptable and appropriate. It was okay now to be mad at Lance.
This mental divider between her and Lance opened up a conduit
between her and Tom.
 
It’s okay to
desire Tom,
 
she
thought.
 
It’s not like I’m going
to do anything with him. It’s just fantasy.
 
Now that she’d rationalized her fantasizing, she
felt comfortable with it and completely immersed herself in the
imagery that was causing a very nice feeling to spread all over her
body – starting at her groin and radiating outward to all
points.

“So, do you like to eat out?” Kim asked Tom with
a smile, realizing as she said it that Tom could take it as a
dining question or a sexual question. She was now in a full-on
sexual state of mind and everything became an innuendo to her. Tom
lived in this state of mind and always considered the sexual
possibilities in every act and word.

“It depends on who I’m with,” he answered with
equal and honest ambiguity.

“What if you were with me?”

Tom knew what was happening. He’d seen it
countless times before. Kim wasn’t talking about restaurants. This
was a barely veiled sexual reference. He told himself to say, “I
don’t know how good of a cook you are” to keep the conversation on
the safe side and to remain safely out of the dangerous waters he
promised not to enter into with regards to anyone Lance was in love
with.

“Absolutely,” he heard himself reply
instead.

“I’d love that,” Kim said, and slowly licked her
lips, staring into Tom’s eyes.

Kim was also aware of what was happening and
told herself without much conviction to stop doing it. Devon spoke
in her mind.
 
“This is Lance’s
fault. He asked for it, and if he loves you, he won’t care anyway.
Better to do it with his best friend than some stranger. It’s kinda
like sharing. Lance loves both of you. It only natural and fitting
for you and Tom to be loving toward each other.”

When Kim heard this thought in her head, it made
perfect sense to her inebriated mind, and all resistance to her
desire for Tom started to melt away. Devon was satisfied that Kim
needed no further encouragement, but Tom, of all people, was still
presenting a challenge.

Tom looked at Kim, licked his own lips and said,
“I bet you would.” Then he took a drink and told himself to just
stop it. He was standing on a potential run-away train that was
just starting to accelerate and he could hop off right now with no
harm done. No promises broken. A nice future with Lance’s new
business; and God knows there are plenty of women in the world just
waiting for a good time - without any complications the next day,
aside from the standard bullshit about how they thought Tom was
different and they can’t believe he’s throwing them
out;
 
blah, blah, blah
.

But if he didn’t jump off now, this was going to
pick up speed and cause a lot of trouble and heartache for people
he cared about when it went off the rails. It wasn’t worth it. Why
mess things up with Kim and Lance when he could go downstairs to
the bar and pick up some dumb broad and get the exact same
satisfaction in the end?

His self-policing train of thought was
interrupted by the return of the waiter carrying a large tray above
his head which he lowered to a serving table that he deftly
unfolded with his other hand and placed beside the table. He took
individual plates off of the large tray and placed them in front of
Tom and Kim, naming off what each dish was as he set it down. He
asked if there was anything else he could get them. Kim said they
needed more drinks. The waiter nodded and left.

But it wouldn’t be the same as it would be
with some dumb broad downstairs. Kim’s a goddess. When was the last
time you had someone so exquisite? When was the last time you had
such utter perfection of the female form from head to toe? Look at
her. Alluring eyes, luscious lips, long neck, full breasts, flat
belly, thin waist, firm butt, toned legs. She’s tanned to a golden
brown. She works out, but not fanatically. She’s firm and soft in
all the right places. And she wants YOU. Feel the hunger. Yours and
hers.

“Mmm, this looks delicious. I can’t wait to get
it into my mouth.” Kim smiled at Tom as she spoke and began cutting
into her filet mignon.  Tom thought, she’s past the point of
innuendo. No one talks that way about their food. “Oh god!” she
said, and then moaned with pleasure while chewing. “This is so
good. Have you come here before?”

“
No,”
 
he
thought to himself,
 
“But
I’m
 
going
 
to come here if you don’t stop.”
 
His erection had returned and once again it was pointing downward
and straining against the fabric of his jeans. He scooped some
baked potato onto his fork, put it in his mouth and replied while
chewing, “Nope.” He looked at his food so as to keep his eyes off
of her. Kim felt that she was losing his attention. She took a
drink from her glass, then leaned back, raised her arms above her
head, pushing out her chest as she yawned and stretched.

Tom’s eyes went right where Kim wanted them to
go. Devon quickly came to Kim’s aid by rapidly scanning Tom’s
memory of breasts he’d seen, wanting to find a pair that
approximated what Kim’s might look like. He finally found a good
match from 12 years ago.

Oh, the irony! The best he could find for
breasts that matched Kim’s were from Lance’s high school sweetheart
Lisa, whom Tom had stolen from Lance. Devon had to think quickly
about whether or not he wanted to risk complicating matters by
possibly invoking the mixed feelings Tom had about his night with
Lisa.  He decided to go with it. He was already all-in with
this project. If Lance didn’t turn, Devon had little hope of
staying alive.

With Tom’s attention still on Kim’s chest, Devon
created images in Tom’s mind of Kim lifting her white top up over
her head and revealing a pair of breasts that drew Tom’s face to
them like a weak comet into a black hole.

She’s yours. All yours. Naked, hot and
wanting you. If Lance cared about her so much, he’d be here right
now. But he’s not.
 
You
are.
 
And she wants you. And
besides, Lance doesn’t ever have to know.

And with that thought - that he could have Kim
and
 
still
 
have Lance as a best friend too -
because
 
Lance didn’t have to
know,
 
suddenly the world looked
brighter to Tom. Now he started closing the deal on his
own.
 
It’s just sex. Two people
getting together and having physical contact. It’s not even a big
deal. Sure, some people cry about it. Lance would cry about it
big-time, but Lance will never know, and no harm will be done, and
I’ll have added to my experience the hottest chick ever.

 Tom lost his appetite for food. As great
as his steak was, he was ready to leave it in exchange for tasting
Kim.
 
He resolved in an unexpected
flash of honorable thought to give Lance one last chance to redeem
himself and change the course of their future history.

“I’m gonna try Lance one more time and if he
doesn’t answer – fuck it. I’m outta here.”

Kim looked down at her plate and cut into her
steak, hoping now that Lance didn’t answer the phone with a good
excuse for not showing up yet. She liked being mad at him and
wanted to punish him by sleeping with Tom.  She looked up at
Tom like a bad girl feigning innocence and shrugged her shoulders
as if to say, “It’s up to you.”

Once again, Tom got Lance’s voicemail. He turned
off his phone instead of just ending the call. “I had a great time,
Kim. The food was lovely and you were delicious, I mean… well, you
know…”

Kim laughed softly and smiled at Tom. He stood
up and she looked at his crotch without trying to hide it. She was
pleasantly surprised by the bulge that looked like it was straining
to break free. “Maybe I
 
am
 
delicious,” she said, looking from his eyes to
his crotch then back to his eyes again. She stood up, then looked
forlornly at her plate and said, “I need one more bite.” She leaned
over, giving Tom the best view he’d had of her breasts all night
and stabbed a single green bean with her fork and put it in her
mouth, staying bent over the table while she chewed.

She looked up at Tom and said, “Do you want
some?”

“Let’s go,” he said. He was done with flirting
and innuendo.

On their way out, Kim said she’d pay for dinner.
Tom said he’d get his car. He was waiting in front of the entrance
in his black and red Challenger when she came out. She got in the
passenger side, reclined the seat all the way back, looked at Tom
and smiled.

“Take me, Tom Collins!” she said and laughed as
the engine purred like the king of the concrete jungle and the car
surged forward, taking them out of the parking lot and away to
Tom’s house.

***

Lance began to wake as he heard the sound of
beeping that he thought was coming from an alarm clock.
Not
 
his
 
alarm clock, but someone else’s inefficient
alarm clock. It was too quiet – distant sounding. It was more
annoying than it was effective with its monotonous, steady beeping.
He could feel the heavy cloth of sleep and dreams still pressing on
his mind, but he couldn’t remember anything of what he had dreamt.
 He could also sense the nearness of the real world but he
lacked the energy to reach it or fully participate in it by opening
his eyes and letting his perception be dominated solely by its
input.