Leon coughed twice before the phone even picked up. “’Sup?”
“What the fuck are you doing calling in sick? It’s the Thanksgiving weekend, the station’s got events every day!”
Leon drew a slow breath. His supervisor Amy was a hard-working woman – since starting university he hadn’t known many bosses who’d get into the trenches with their student interns the way she did. And it didn’t hurt that she was a severe baddie who was sometimes terrifyingly free with her affections.
But sometimes, Amy had all the compassion of a goddamn piranha.
“Amy, the station’s closed for the holiday. You mean we have events all weekend.”
“I warned you when you started that the Street Team got all the shit hours. At least you’re getting paid time-and-a-half.”
“I’m not getting paid at all. I’m doing this for class credit, remember?” He coughed again, and cleared his throat. “Look, it’s just a tickle right now, but I don’t want you or anyone else getting sick. If it clears up, I’ll call you right away.”
The line was quiet for a moment.
Finally, she spoke. “Fine. That new girl’s going to have to pull her own weight this time. But I want daily updates.”
“You got it,” he hummed back, silently pumping his free arm. “You’re the best, Amy.”
“Because I care, or because you’ve seen me nak—“
Leon hung up, and scrolled back to the image that had caught his attention earlier that day. He knew the girls in the picture, of course, even if it had been a year – now a lifetime – ago. But it was the house behind them that called to him, a fancy-looking McMansion with its raised porch and fake brickwork. He’d seen the building before, though he hadn’t known what was inside, or what its purpose was.
But he did know it was only six blocks away.
***
Thanksgiving was a big event for those students who lived on campus. If they chose to stay in residence during the holiday, they were left with four days to eat, drink and be merry to their heart’s content – and it was early enough in the school year that they would have enough energy for all three plus more.
Leon’s plans in the midst of all of that were modest. While his friends, his boss and his handful of social media followers believed he was sick, he was in fact giving himself a glow-up. The summer had been long and humid, and his cornrows had dissolved into a frizzy mess. He whistled, perfectly healthy, as he picked apart the handful of remaining braids.
“But you are not going to work,” reasoned his roommate Stephen, struggling to roll himself into an undersized Promotions T-shirt.
Leon took a quick selfie with his phone and considered the image. “Nope. But I’ve got to look my best for the ladies at Omega Nu. You know how it is.”
“That is… the black girl clubhouse, right?”
“It’s called a sorority, bro. Props to your memory, though.” Still uneven, he decided, and went back to teasing at his curls.
“How could I forget? I remembered the speaker they had during Rush Week. Senegalese girl. The one with the big—“
“Please don’t finish that sentence.”
“—Lips. I was going to say lips.” The husky Baltic kid shrugged. “I don’t understand why it has to be tonight, though. Clubs have events, open houses. Could you not wait to be invited?”
He was right, but he wasn’t asking the right questions – and Leon wasn’t sure he was willing to volunteer the answer. Because then he might have to explain why he was seeking out Larissa in the first place.
They’d met at the Black Student’s Union at the beginning of their second year. He was undeclared at the time, somewhere between Journalism and Communication Science, and she was a hardcore Poli-Sci major. He thought he’d impressed her with his rapid-fire wit, and then she turned around and hustled him out of half of his meal card in a ‘friendly’ game of foosball. Larissa was the ambitious type, and it shouldn’t have surprised him when he heard that she’d been accepted into the ranks of the Omegas.
“Leave me to worry about that shit, okay? We’ve got a more immediate problem.”
“Amy,” murmured Stephen. “She’s got us booked all weekend. You have a plan for her as well?”
“I think so. All I need is someone to give me an alibi. A man on the inside.”
“Clever! And who—“ He stopped suddenly, and his eyes widened in realization. “No! You cannot leave me alone with Amy, she’s a man-eater!”
“Bro, you’re not alone, you have Ricki or whatever her name is. But if the worst that happens is that you have filthy, degrading sex with our hot cougar boss… that’s just a risk I gotta take.”
Stephen had fumed, swore that Leon owed him… but he agreed. Leon knew that he would. The big guy’s phone lit up – Amy was on her way – and Leon thanked him and snatched up his lucky windbreaker. By the time the Street Team van pulled up to the street outside his house, he’d already snuck out the back door.
A light rain had started to fall, but it would take more than that to dampen the school spirit that was spilling out into the street. Leon found himself shoving through mobs of drunk second-years just to reach the first crosswalk, and for the first time started to wonder if, for all of his strategizing, he’d actually thought things through.
It wasn’t that she might not be there. He’d been cyber-stalking her for the previous week, he knew that Larissa was one of only a handful of Omegas not leaving for the holiday. But even if she’d come to the door, even if she were willing to hear him out – what would he say? She’d been clear back then, she wanted to be with a real man, and Leon… wasn’t. He hadn’t said anything then, either, and she’d taken his silence as admission.
But something had happened, just in the last few weeks. Something that told him he’d given up too quickly, something that had lit a fire under his ass. And that something kept him going through the crowd, across the streets littered with empty pizza boxes and crushed beer cans, through the grounds of the campus itself. At last, he wiped the moisture from his eyes and looked upon the Omega Nu sorority house.
He wiped away the moisture clinging to his phone screen. Larissa’s number was still saved in his contacts – in all the time since they’d been together, he had never even thought of deleting it. Every once in a while he’d scroll back and remind himself of the time when he hadn’t been on his own, when his nights had been filled with late-night study sessions and a few when they hadn’t done much studying at all.
A call to her now wouldn’t bring those nights back, he reminded himself. The button was under his finger, he only had to press it. If he could.
And at that moment, the sky opened up.
The chorus of voices behind him went from celebrating to shrieking, but by the time Leon noticed the change, it was too late. The cold October rain hit him with the force of a waterfall, soaking through his hair, his jacket, his pants. Sputtering from the runoff rolling down his face, he held the phone flat against his chest and made a beeline for the house.
He was fully drenched by the time he made it to their porch, and he had to pound on the heavy door to be heard. Maybe he’d be lucky and Larissa wouldn’t be the first one to see him…
The door creaked open. He wasn’t lucky.
“Oh hell no!” she yelled, and shut him out with a slam.
Several minutes rolled by, his shoes filling, before Leon had the presence of mind to start banging again. It was Omega Nu, after all, they couldn’t turn down a brother in his time of need, could they?
The door opened again, but Larissa blocked him at the edge of the threshold. She looked… good. She’d gone back to her natural hair since the breakup, with bleached tips that surrounded her head like a brassy halo. She had on a cropped sweater and low-rise jeans that drew his eyes unconsciously to her dark, flat stomach.
“What, Leon? Don’t tell me you were all up in your feels because of our breakup anniversary?”
She remembered? He pushed the thought aside. “Um… do you mind if I come in?”
“Yes, I mind if you come in! I’m thriving here, Leon. I’m living my best life and here you come to harsh my buzz with your beta energy.” She advanced toward him, stabbing him in the chest with her acrylic nails. “I do not care that you miss me. I do not care that it’s your birthday. Take the L and leave me alone.”
He took a step back, expecting her to slow her roll before she walked into the rain – but the downpour had vanished as quickly as it had struck. A single lingering droplet caught him on his crown, but Larissa’s ‘fro was miraculously dry.
Figures, he thought. Behind her Leon could hear the giggling of the other sorority sisters, who had no doubt heard the raised voices and had come to snoop. He spotted the flash from at least one camera. His trip was not going at all as he’d planned it, and it was time to find some kind of dignified exit—
He missed the step and fell on his ass in the middle of the lawn to the laughter of a half-dozen pretty girls. Whatever parts of him that hadn’t been doused by the rain were slathered in mud and grass clippings. And he was pretty sure that his loose-fitting pants had slid halfway down his thighs when he’d hit the ground.
He couldn’t have clowned himself any harder if he’d tried. From across the street, he could see a chubby white guy running toward him, waving his hands. Thank fuck, somebody was coming to help him. Even better, it looked like it was Stephen.
Hold up. If Stephen’s here, then…
“Leon, you have a lot of explaining to do.”
He winced and craned his neck back. It was the calves he noticed first – the muscles in that woman’s legs could crush a beer can, and he’d seen her do it. The skintight capris she was wearing were as much of a threat as a choice.
“Hi, Amy.”
She leaned down, blond hair spilling over her face. “I felt bad for you, Leon. That’s why I decided I was going to check up on you after the event got rained out. Instead, I get told that you played hooky for a hookup.”
From the porch, Larissa cleared her throat.
“I don’t want to interrupt, but… Leon, don’t tell me you’re trying to two-time on this Rhonda Rousey-ass-looking white bitch? Damn, I knew you were pathetic, but I thought you had some pride.”
“Dial it back, kid, I’m his supervisor,” Amy corrected. “You’re the girlfriend?”
“Ex-girlfriend. This motherfucker thought he could get us back together as some kind of birthday present to himself.”
If Leon had a shovel, he’d have dug himself a hole right on the lawn and buried himself in it. At least the rain had chased away anyone who might have been a witness to his utter humiliation – well, except for Larissa and the five other girls from Omega Nu. And anyone who was watching their livestream.
And Amy.
“Why, Leon,” she said, baring a mouthful of teeth, “you never told me that it was your birthday! We should celebrate, shouldn’t we?”
Leon grinned back weakly. “You mean, like going out for drinks or…”
“Not exactly what I had in mind.” She turned to the Omegas. “You girls have a sorority paddle, right?”
There was a quiet among the girls. They didn’t take orders from random white women – it ran against both their nature and the sorority charter. But more than half of the Omegas were student athletes, and they recognized a team captain when they heard one. A sister at the back mumbled that such a thing could, in fact, be found on the mantle inside.
Still on the ground, Leon tried to crawl away only to find Amy’s implacable hand clamped down on his shoulder.
Larissa broke the silence. “Shanice, get the paddle.”
Leon felt his limbs go numb as Amy hauled him to his feet by his collar. He felt like a kitten being carried by his mother – only his mommy was about to beat his ass.
“Amy, I’m sorry. I won’t lie to you again. I’ll work double time at the station. You don’t need to do this—”
She marched him up the road sign with the sorority’s address and bent him over the metal frame. His pants were at his knees after his fall, and Amy seemed satisfied to leave them there. By the time that two of the Omegas had clamped down on either of his arms, Leon realized that he wasn’t going to be able to plead or wrestle his way out of the situation he’d gotten himself into – and then Shanice returned with her prize.
The paddle was massive, nearly a meter long including the handle, lacquered in the mahogany-and-black sorority colours. Larissa hefted it in one hand, testing the balance. She grimaced, and reluctantly handed it over to Amy.
“You want to show us how it’s done?”
Leon couldn’t see the smile that lit up Amy’s face at the offer, but he didn’t have to. There was a whoosh of air behind him.
“You’re what now, twenty-one? No, twenty. You know, Leon, you’ve got a pretty cute butt back here. It’s a juicy booty, isn’t it, girls?” She pulled the paddle back. “Don’t worry, I’ll take it easy on you.”
There was a whoosh again. Leon closed his eyes and grit his teeth.
Amy swung.
The paddle caught him right in the fattest part of his ass, hitting him so hard that the metal signpost beneath him shook.
“That’s one!” said Amy cheerfully. “What do you say, Leon?”
He had a lot of things he wanted to say, but none of them were going to help him. He looked around in a panic, hoping to see where Stephen had gone, but the big Baltic kid had taken off. So much for the bro code.
“Here comes number two!”
The second strike came lower, just above his thighs. The look on his face must have been hilarious, because both of the Omegas holding him down burst out laughing.
“Oh, we got some booty jiggle with that one, girls! Number three now!”
Leon winced. He’d expected the paddle to hurt, but he’d expected a sudden but blunt pain, like taking a punch – not that he’d ever taken one of those before, either. But the sorority’s secret weapon was worse than he’d imagined, and his ass burned where it had landed.
His thoughts provided a very short distraction. He yowled with the next hit.
“That was three! Leon, try not to tense up, it’ll hurt more. Onto number four!”
Swat after swat came down, each one cracking like lightning. He’d have been able to take it if it was just the whooping, he told himself. Nut up. Tough it out. But every time he heard the paddle slice through the air behind him, his stomach dropped, his courage failed. By the ninth, each swat was being met with a howl, and each howl with a host of giggles.
And then Leon heard something even worse.
“Ayo, blondie! How about giving somebody else a turn?”
Leon couldn’t help but think that Amy would beat his ass for real if he ever talked like that to her. But for Larissa, she just gave a shrug and handed over her weapon.
“I was just getting tired anyway. And you two have some unfinished business, don’t you?”
“Oh, I’m going to finish it alright,” snarled Larissa. “Hey Leon. What number are we on?”
He gulped. “Thirtee—owww!”
“Good, you’re counting. Thirteen months is how long I wasted on you. I mean, a Communications major! I should have known, right?” She lined up another shot and swung.
“Fuck! Fourteen!”
“You knew you couldn’t handle a real woman, could you?” Another swing.
“Mmm! No! Fifteen!”
He could feel the energy coursing from Larissa as she choked up on the paddle, pacing back and forth behind Leon like a lioness.
“I didn’t ask for much from you, Leon. I just wanted a little ambition. A little fucking grind. Instead, I got a man-baby who was still deciding what he wanted to be when he grew up. Kind of fitting you’re getting spanked right now, isn’t it?” She swung.
“Oww! Sixteen!”
“A boy takes his licks. A man takes what he wants. And I knew we were over from the minute you tried to stick your face in my pussy.”
Leon clenched his eyes shut and waited for the blow. When it never came, he dared to take a glance over his shoulder. The paddle wavered uselessly in the air as Amy’s hand locked around Larissa’s wrist.
“That’s enough. The kind of guy who’ll go down on you values your pleasure more than his pride. And for that, Leon’s got nothing to be ashamed of.”
“Bitch, no one asked you,” snapped Larissa, and tugged – but there was no breaking that grip. “It’s just… gross. Everybody knows that.”
She looked to her sisters for support, but found none.
“I don’t know, I kind of like it when my man goes down,” muttered Shanice. “It’s a nice change of pace, you know?”
“Yeah, ‘Nice, but that’s because you’re a hoe.” Larissa’s voice sounded pained. “I could use a bit of help here!”
Amy smirked. “Yeah, they could try, or… let’s put it to a vote. Who thinks that this girl needs a few swats of her own for disrespecting the noble art of cunnilingus?”
A cheer went up from the crowd, and the pressure on Leon’s arms went slack. He could hear Larissa swearing up a storm, calling her sisters traitors and bitches, but as much as he might enjoy watching the tables turn, the moment his hands were free, he grabbed the waistband of his pants and took off running.
***
Back in his kitchen, boxers around his ankles, Leon did his best to inspect the damage.
Between the low light of the room and his own black ass, there wasn’t much to see from his ordeal – but he could certainly feel it. Poking one off-coloured blotch actually brought tears to his eyes. Definitely a bruise, but at least that would fade in a day or two. He was never going to live down the embarrassment of being double-teamed by his boss and his ex. At least one of the sisters had been filming, he was sure. The footage would be trending by morning.
He opened the fridge for a cold beer. On reflection, he pulled it away from his lips and pressed it instead against his tender cheek.
He heard the door open and close behind him. Stephen was still hiding upstairs in his own room – and he should, thought Leon darkly – and that left only one person who could be stumbling in at that time.
“I thought you were going to go easy on me,” he said without turning around.
A hand snaked out and grabbed his butt-beer. He heard her push some dirty dishes aside and plunk down on the counter behind him.
“You’re still in one piece, aren’t you? That’s more than I can say for the girls’ paddle – it broke in half after just a couple of swats on your ex. That girl’s got some lungs on her, I’ll tell you that.” She took a sip. “Good news, she made her sisters delete all the video they took. Your secret it safe.”
“Thanks, I guess.”
“Look, Leon, I have to ask – what did you ever see in her?”
He leaned back toward the fridge and picked out another beer, then crossed over to the sink to find an opener. It dawned on him that he was naked from the waist down, but he bit down the urge to cover himself. Let Amy see what she’d done.
“I’ve been thinking about that all night. Best answer I’ve got is that if I’ve got to humiliate myself for some pussy, it might as well be with someone I’ve got a chance with. Ain’t that right?”
Those last words he threw at Amy like a knife, and he saw her flinch. She was quiet for a moment… and then she started to giggle.
“Do you… do you think we’re in a relationship? Am I your girlfriend?” He tried to take another drink, but was laughing too hard to hold the bottle straight. “In four years, I’m just going to be some mistake you made when you were too young and horny to know better.”
“And you?”
She offered a lifeless smile. “Dude. Four years from now, I won’t remember you at all.”
She took a sip. He took a sip. They both brewed in silence.
And for the first time, he saw Amy. Not as his intimidating supervisor. Not as some predatory milf – but as a person. She seemed… smaller, somehow.
“Thanks,” Leon said finally. “For being real with me.”
“You’re welcome. So are we going to fuck or not?”
He wanted to say no, just to see her reaction. But certain parts of him had been considering the possibility even before she’d brought it up. And again… he wasn’t wearing pants.
“Last time, Amy.”
“Sure. You know, I’m feeling a bit overdressed. Maybe you can do something about that.”
Leon put down his beer, shaking his head. He stepped over to the counter, tucking his thumbs into Amy’s capris. To his surprise, she leaned down and kissed him on the lips.
“Last time,” she whispered, “I promise.”
That was good enough for him. He pulled, forcing the fabric loose from Amy’s firm backside. As tight as they were, he hadn’t seen any panty lines, and as her pants slipped down her legs he discovered why.
He didn’t need to ask her what she wanted from him. He already knew.
Lowering himself to the floor, he positioned himself between her legs and pressed his lips between them. Her taste was familiar – warm, sticky, with more than a hint of salt from the work she’d put in. And she must have enjoyed that work, as she was already wet.
He parted her folds with his tongue, finding her tender bud already damp and swollen for him.
“Leon, I—“ she started, and gasped.
Whatever she had to say, it didn’t matter. The truth was, she tasted good, and with each jolt of delight he felt her entire body tense. It was all he could do not to smile as his mouth went to work licking and sucking.
“I—“
She’d gotten turned on from humiliating and hurting him. It was hard to ignore that, with his ass still smoldering. But seeing her as she was – blushing, her breathing shallow, her nails scratching at his countertop – he had to admit that the pleasure might have been worth the pain.
Maybe. Trying to ignore the strain from his own arousal, he set his attention back to hers.
“Leon… not this time. Get up.”
It didn’t make sense. He could tell that she was getting off. But he knew better than to tune out when the boss was giving an order. He stood, and she wrapped her arms around his neck like a laurel made of steel.
“What’s up?” he asked, trying not to sound too disappointed as he wiped the taste of her from his mouth.
Amy bit her lip. “I’ve given you a lot of exercise since you started on the Street Team, right? A chance to work out those skinny arms, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. Because if this doesn’t work, we’re both going to have bruises.”
Leon didn’t have time to ask what she meant before she’d pulled him in. The first kiss had been a surprise, a light peck that ended too quickly and left his skin on fire where she’d touched him. For the second, there was no such restraint. Her tongue rammed into his mouth with fervor and a strength that left his lips numb.
It also distracted him from where she was moving her other hand. There was a sudden grip on his dick, and he felt her entire body coil in front of him.
“Wait—“ he tried, too late. She drew him in further, sinking himself into her.
He hadn’t known what to expect. It was a moment he’d dreamed of since he’d first seen her stretched out naked, her sun-tanned skin slick with sweat. She was heavier than she looked – and tighter! He stifled a groan.
“Fill me, baby,” she whispered, and sank her fingernails deep into the flesh of his ass.
White-hot pain lanced out from his bruise, and a strangled noise wormed its way out of Leon’s throat. Amy took it as encouragement and squeezed again as she mashed his dick inside her.
Through the agony, Leon had never been harder.
He looked up at Amy with a mixture of rage and pure animal lust. he grabbed her by the hips and slammed into her, rattling the dishes. She sighed in delight and pushed back, nearly bowling him over.
So, it’s going to be like that, is it?
Leon snarled and crashed into the counter again, thrusting with all the energy that he could muster. His grunts must have been deafening in Amy’s ear, but she pressed her head against his all the same, kissing and biting his neck even as he ravished her.
A plate wobbled off the countertop and smashed on the floor. Neither of them noticed. Neither of them cared.
A wave tore through Leon and before he realized what was happening he was coming, suddenly and unrestrained. Holding on for dear life, her ankles crossed behind his back, Amy laughed.
As soon as it had come on, the moment passed. Leon sagged, setting Amy carefully back down from where he’d raised her. His legs began to fold out from under him, and he forced himself to sit, wincing as his ass made contact with the warm floor.
Amy pulled out a square of paper towel from the roll beside the sink and dabbed at the sticky mess still clinging to her thighs.
“You know Rachel, that new girl? I think she’s into me.”
Confused, Leon shook his head.
“She’s got a boyfriend, Amy. And she’s not, you know…” Words failed him, and he gestured uncertainly toward his crotch.
“You mean she’s not a guy? She’s cute, that’s all that matters. There’s a first time for everything.”
She’s not some stupid college kid, he wanted to say. She’s old enough to know better. Maybe even old enough that she could see Amy for what she was.
Instead he said, “You do what you want, Amy.”
“Thank you, I will.” She chugged the last of her beer and dropped the empty bottle with a clatter into the sink. “Take care of yourself, Leon.”
“I’m coming in to work tomorrow, remember?”
“Ah, right.” She paused in the doorway as if she had something further to say, but it never came. The door closed firmly behind her.
