Hooked

too hard.” Benny’s breathing moved from panting to the precipice of hyperventilating. “And I love fucking whores who talk dirty. It gets me hot.”
    If he got any hotter, he’d burn off Tawny’s fingerprints. She pinched Benny’s nipples with one hand and tickled down his leg with the other, teasing near his member but never touching it.
    “Your wife’s a whore, too, isn’t she?”
    “Not any more. She only does me.”
    “Really. How lucky you are to be such a cheat and have a faithful wife.” Tawny believed the part about the faithful wife like she believed Chicken Little’s warning that the sky was falling.
    “Eileen understands me.”
    “Yes, she would have to.” Tawny sat up, and zeroed in on Benny’s dick. “Oh, I see the blister now. It must hurt terribly.”
    “It does. Maybe you could kiss it.”
    “I’m afraid that’s all I can do. If you entered me, that bubble would burst open, and the pain would be excruciating.”
    “Jeez, I never thought of that. Do you give rain checks?”
    Tawny almost laughed. Who but Benny would think of a rain check? “If you’re not satisfied when I finish with you, we’ll discuss it. For now, I’ll be gentle, work around it with my tongue. I guarantee the pleasure will erase all pain.”
    Benny gasped. “The thought of your tongue on my cock is sending shivers all through my body.”
    As she was leaning down, the door to the apartment burst open. Tawny got up and turned, unsure what to expect. Eileen Cooper, Colin, and the big black man with the shaved head moved into the bedroom.
    Benny took one look at Eileen, jumped up, turned to hide himself, and banged his blistered pecker on the bedside table. His scream could be heard in Greenwich Village .

Chapter Thirty-Four
    Black Comedy

    W ith her thong and sling-backs the only items betw een her and total nudity, Tawny squared her shoulders, threw back her head, and returned Eileen’s penetrating glare―a perfect translation of the old adage, if looks could kill . The men, though never having shown interest in her before, stared in either app reciation or shock. Or maybe it was disgust. She couldn’t determine which.
    Benny was dancing around the room, almost in tears, coddling his wounded penis. Sweat poured off his naked body.
    “Oh, my God. My blister ruptured. Listen to my voice. It’s higher. I’ve been emasculated.” He flopped on the bed. “Help me, Eileen. Get some salve or something to ease my pain.”
    “Fuck you, Benny,” Eileen said. “You couldn’t wait to get in her pants. Why her, of all women? I hope that overworked prick shrivels and falls off, you son of a bitch.”
    “Eileen, please, baby.” When she didn’t answer, Benny screamed, “Colin, you do this sort of thing. Get something. I’m losing consciousness.”
    Tawny heard Colin mumble something under his breath about a drama queen.
    “‘Do this sort of thing?’ I don’t do that sort of thing with anyone other than Reggie. Least of all to you, Benny. Your pecker has seen too much action. There’s a limit to working for you.”
    “Eileen, please. It feels like someone jabbed me with a hot poker.”
    Eileen sneered at him. “Would that I had one. Why don’t you get your whore du jour to finish what she was about to do. That ought to soothe your pitiful-looking appendage.”
    Benny turned his pleading to Tawny. “Tawny, please. There’s Vaseline in the bathroom cabinet. I can’t walk or I’d get it myself.”
    Benny was pathetic. Tawny almost felt sorry for him. Almost, but not quite. “Of course, Benny, but I can’t believe the mother of your children would let you writhe in pain over a little extra-curricular activity.”
    “A little—Why you…you—”
    Tawny felt no embarrassment as she walked naked past Eileen to retrieve Benny’s lubricant in the bathroom. In a sideways glance, she noticed the woman’s poisonous scowl and Colin’s restraining her from a likely physical attack. When Tawny returned, she scooped a blob of jelly onto her pinky finger and rubbed it over Bennie’s inflamed blister.
    Benny moaned and offered Tawny a grateful smile. “Thank you. I’ll remember this.”
    It was past time for Tawny to get the hell out of there. She picked up her bra, intending to drop it in her satchel, and stepped into her dress with as much dignity as she could muster. But instead of heading to the closet to gather her tote, she turned toward the door. Eileen blocked her way.
    “Where do you think