The Stein Ch. 01

"Sorry to hear that," I said. "Was there much damage to your house?"

"No damage to the house, the only things burned were my clothes," he said. "Somehow all of my clothes happened to be piled in the driveway when they accidentally got soaked with gasoline. Then somebody dropped a match or a cigarette near the pile. Whoosh! Nothing left but a couple of crispy pairs of socks. I guess my wife was really pissed at me that night."

He laughed a little and said, "I think we will get things worked out but in the mean time I am living in my car and I had to buy this suit at the Salvation Army store. Right now it's the only thing I have to wear."

I felt sorry for him. Detective Trenca seemed like a nice guy and I hated to think that he was having problems in his marriage. What could he have done that pissed his wife off so much that she would torch his clothes. I guess that in the back of my mind I knew. I wondered how things in a marriage could go that far wrong before they would take steps to fix the problems.

Detective Trenca stayed with me for more than an hour but we just talked. I sensed that there was something that he wanted to tell me but for some reason he was holding back. I finally had to ask.

"I think there is something you aren't telling me but I think you want to. What is it?" I asked.

"Remember when I told you that the shooter thought you were dead or he would have made sure you were?" Detective Trenca asked.

"Yeah, I remember." I said and waited for him to finish.

"The shooter knew you weren't dead but he was sure that you would die. He wanted you dead but he wanted it to be slow. That's why the last two shots where in your abdomen instead of your head," Detective Trenca said.

"Why?" I asked. "Why would he do that? Just because he thought I saw him?"

"I don't know but I plan to find out."

After that Detective Trenca asked me questions about my job and the people I worked with. It didn't occur to me until after he left that he might suspect that the shooter was someone I knew.

Over the next few days I got stronger and the nurses had me out of bed and walking the halls. Nicky came to see me each morning and then came back again after work and had dinner with me. She stayed each night until visiting hours were over. A couple of times, when I was feeling lonely at night, I called Nicky at her parents' house and we talked for more then a half hour each time.

Looking at Nicky each day was beginning to worry me. I could feel myself getting stronger each day but Nicky didn't seem to be doing as well. Her color was ashen and her eyes always seemed to be puffy and red. She looked to me as if she had lost weight and wasn't sleeping well. She had been through a hard time. Finding me lying on the floor with blood running out of me and then not knowing if I was going to live or die for more than three days had taken its toll on her. I was sure that once I got out of the hospital and we were back at home she would start to feel better.

When I was alone at night and couldn't sleep all I could think about was Nicky. I thought about how we had met during our senior year at college. We were introduced at a frat party but under less than ideal conditions. She had come to the party as the date of one of my fraternity brothers but he got so drunk he could hardly stand up and had to ask me to give her a ride home.

At the time Nicky didn't seem impressed by me or by my fraternity brothers. She didn't speak to me until I dropped her off and then she only thanked me for the ride. I, on the other hand, was very impressed with Nicole Saunders. She was tall and slim with a very nice body. She had light brown hair and big, very expressive, brown eyes. Her nose was perfect for her face and she had a large mouth that was capable of generating thousand watt smiles. Unfortunately, she didn't give me a smile on the ride to her sorority house that night. I had seen her smile when she arrived at the party and I was immediately jealous of her date.

I didn't see her again for two weeks. It was at another party that I ran into her. This time she did smile at me.

"Eric Anderson, right?" she asked.

"Yes, and you are Nicole Saunders."

"You remembered. I am impressed. I thought that after I was so rude to you when you gave me a ride home that you would have quickly forgotten all about me," she said.

I thought for a moment about all the great pick up lines I could have used at that moment but instead opted for sincerity. I said, "I was impressed by how unimpressed you were with me, which caused me to remember your name."

"I wasn't unimpressed," she said. "I was just so mad at Bob. He invites me to a party and then proceeds to get so drunk that he can't even take me home. I am afraid that I let my anger affect my attitude toward you. I do appreciate that you were sober and that you gave me a ride without complaining about having to leave the party."

I couldn't resist this opportunity. "How could I complain about getting the chance to spend time alone with a beautiful girl like you."

Nicky laughed and said, "Thanks, I guess."

"Have you forgiven Bob yet?" I asked.

"Nope, and I am not going to," she said. "I had just met him the week before and that was our first and only date. He blew it. I was definitely unimpressed with him."

"Good, then how about going out with me?" I asked. "I promise I'll stay sober long enough to get you home."

"I'd like that," Nicky said.

We went out on our first date the next night and were dating exclusively by the end of the next week.

I also thought about the first time we had sex. It was on our fourth date. We had gone out for pizza and then went to a movie. After the movie we drove back to Nicky's sorority house and I parked across the street. I kissed her and began to nibble on her ear.

"I think I am falling in love," I whispered to her.

Nicky turned her head and kissed me and said, "Me too."

While kissing her, I started to unbutton Nicky's blouse and when I put my hand inside she didn't resist me at all. I felt my hand touch her bare breast for the first time and my cock almost tore the zipper out of my pants.

I bent down to suck her nipple into my mouth and slipped my hand under the hem of her skirt at the same time. Nicky didn't stop me so I began to move my hand up her thigh. At the time she had her legs crossed but as I moved my hand higher up her leg she uncrossed them and allowed me to reach all the way up to the top of her legs. I pressed my fingertips against her panty-covered sex and teased her pussy. Nicky responded to this by biting me on the ear and saying, "That feels so good."

I was so hot I was ready to taste Nicky's pussy right there in the car. When I tried to get my hand inside her panties Nicky grabbed my wrist. The problem was that my car was not only too small, it was parked in the only available parking space on the block and that was directly under a street lamp. There was a lot of activity on the street, which meant that anything we did in my car could be seen by anyone passing.

"Not here. Let's go to my room," Nicky said. "Follow me."

Nicky buttoned her blouse and then got out of the car. I got out and Nicky took my hand and led me across the street toward the sorority house. Instead of going in the front door she led me around to the back of the house and we went in through the back door and up the back staircase to her room.

Once inside Nicky's bedroom I pulled her to me and started kissing her again. Nicky kissed me and then started to open my pants and push them down my legs. While she worked on my pants I removed my shirt. When she had my pants off, Nicky removed my jockey shorts and while we stood there kissing, Nicky reached down and began to stroke my cock.

I was so aroused that I had to stop her before she made me climax. Then I unbuttoned her blouse and pushed it off her shoulders and let if fall to the floor. Nicky unzipped and then stepped out of her skirt and put it on a chair. Then I watched as Nicky unhooked her bra and removed it exposing her firm grapefruit sized breasts to me. I put one hand on each breast and gently massaged them. I began to kiss and lick her nipples alternating back and forth between her right and left breast and I could tell that Nicky was enjoying the sensations I was giving her. I loved how hard her nipples got as I played them with my tongue and lips.

After awhile I turned Nicky around and made her sit on the edge of the bed. Then I slid my hand up the inside of Nicky's leg until I reached the crotch of her panties and I slipped my finger under the satin material. When I slipped my fingertips into her slit and began to slide it up and down in her sexual juices Nicky let out a soft moan.

I was standing naked in front of Nicky with the biggest hard on I think I had ever had and the head of my cock was already shinny with pre cum and more was dripping out of me. Nicky took my cock in her hand and held it in front of her face and seemed to be examining it.

"Do you want me to kiss it?" she asked.

"Yes, please," I answered.

Nicky leaned forward and kissed my stiff member. She ran my tongue all over the head of my cock and as she did this she pulled on my cock milking as much of my pre cum from me as she could. Nicky seemed to actually like the taste of the clear liquid. After a few minutes of this Nicky pulled my head down to kiss me. I could see that her lips were slick with my juices but I kissed her anyway.

I got down on the floor in front of Nicky and while I was staring at her mound I said, "Now I am going to return the favor."

I moved my head up between Nicky's creamy thighs and started planting little kisses all over her vulva. Then I began pushing my tongue between her labia. I could feel her juices running out of her pussy and down my chin. When I finally stopped my attack on Nicky's clitoris she almost attacked me. She kissed me all over my face in spite of the fact that I was covered with her love juices.

I was starting to get on the bed with her when Nicky whispered, "We can't go any further unless you wear a condom."

I quickly retrieved my pants and dug the condom I always carried out of my wallet. I rolled the condom onto my engorged member and then rejoined Nicky on the bed and climbed between Nicky's legs. I pressed the head of my cock against her opening and slowly pushed myself inside her. Nicky was very tight and the sensations I was feeling through my cock were wonderful. As I began to push myself into Nicky as deeply as I could she lifted her hips to meet each of my thrusts. We were soon in a rhythm that brought us both to climax at the same time.

That night was certainly not the best sex we ever had but it was the most memorable because it was the first.

I filled my lonely nights in the hospital just thinking about our life together. Nicky and I got married a year after we got out of college. Nicky got a teaching position with the Los Angeles County school district teaching English in high school and I got a job working for a company that installs computer networks.

Nicky and I have been married for six years and the Dallas trip I just returned from was only the second time we have been apart. The first time was a little over a year ago at the end of the last school year. Nicky had volunteered us to be chaperones for a class trip to Germany for the kids in the German Club at her school. I had to cancel out of the trip to Germany to attend an educational technology conference in Denver that same week. Nicky was disappointed but she understood that I had no choice. We were only apart for a week but I missed her terribly.

I got home from the conference on Thursday night and Nicky returned from the trip to Germany on that Saturday. I had an erection as I lay in that hospital bed thinking about the romantic evening we had when Nicky got home. I had fixed a romantic candle light dinner and after we ate we retired to the bedroom.

Nicky went into the bathroom to take a quick shower and get herself ready form me. After I had lit several candles around the bedroom to create a warm romantic feeling I sat patiently waiting for Nicky to come out of the bathroom. I already had an erection building in anticipation of what was to come. After all it had been more that a week since we had last made love. When the double doors to the bathroom opened, Nicky was standing in the doorway wearing a black bra and panties and black thigh high stockings.

As Nicky approached me I stood and put my arms around her and we began to dance to the soft rock CD I was playing. As we danced I began kissing Nicky's mouth and neck. I positioned us so that we were standing in front of the large mirror on Nicky's dresser, then I moved behind her and rubbed her breasts through her bra and pressed my erection against her firm buttocks while she watched herself in the mirror. When I slipped my hand inside her panties and began to tease her by just lightly skimming my fingertips over her vulva Nicky tipped her head back against my shoulder and closed her eyes. As I continued to play with her pussy she began to make little cooing sounds in her throat.

Just as I felt my fingers getting wet from Nicky's juices she turned to face me and gave me a deep tongue kiss and began kissing her way down over my chest and down my stomach as she sank to her knees in front of me. Once on her knees she pulled my shorts down and then she cupped my balls in one hand as she kissed the very tip of my cock. I was already beginning to secrete pre-cum and as she pulled back I could see a strand of the thick clear liquid extending from the tip of my cock to Nicky's lips. I watched as Nicky ran her tongue around her lips, gathering the shiny strand and drawing it into her mouth. Then she stuck her tongue out and flicked it across the head of my cock creating a new strand of the shiny liquid this time trailing from my cock to the tip of her tongue. Without breaking the strand Nicky ran her tongue under the head of my cock and pulled her tongue and my cock into her mouth. What followed was one of the most fantastic blowjobs she has ever given me.

I was very close to climaxing when Nicky stopped, stood up, and kissed me. I could taste my excitement on her lips and tongue. When she broke the kiss she said, "It's my turn" then she sat on the edge of the bed.

I got down on my knees in front of her and began kissing my way down from her face to her breasts. When I got to her breasts I pulled her bra straps down off of her shoulders and pulled the cups down to expose her beautiful pear shaped breasts. I took one in each hand and gently massaged them as I alternately licked, kissed and sucked on her nipples. Nicky loves this and it often brings her to an orgasm and this time was no different. Nicky tipped her head back and grabbed my head with both hands and held me to her breast as she climbed the mountain of her orgasm. When she finally descended again, she relaxed and lay back on the bed. As she did I started kissing my way down over her stomach to the top of her panties. I pulled the crotch of her panties to the side and inhaled the heady scent of her aroused pussy. I used my tongue to slowly trace the lips of her labia then I separated them and pushed my tongue inside Nicky's pussy. As usual she responded to my attention and was soon in the throes of her second orgasm.

This time when she came down from her orgasm she told me to come inside her, so I stood and positioned my cock at the entrance to Nicky's well lubricated sex and pressed forward till I was buried as deep inside her as I could get. For the next fifteen minutes Nicky and I bounced around the bed in several different positions until I couldn't hold back any longer and I shot a load inside Nicky from behind and then collapsed on top of her.

Afterward, while we cuddled Nicky said, "I brought you a present from Germany."

She got out of bed and I watched her cute little ass wiggle as she went over to her suitcase and searched inside until she found what she was looking for. I was actually a little disappointed when she found the gift because I was enjoying the erotic view as she bent over the suitcase.

Nicky came back over to the bed and handed me an unwrapped box. She stood there smiling at me while I tried to guess what might be inside. The box was heavier than I expected which threw me off. I had expected a hat or some other lightweight souvenir.

"Well, open it," Nicky said in an excited voice.

Inside the box was a one-liter beer stein. The stein was hand painted and beautiful. I couldn't believe it. I had collected several beer mugs and steins over the years but never anything as nice and this one came with papers declaring that it was one of 1000, making it a great collectors item.

My collection consisted of five beer mugs with names of beers that are no longer brewed, a pewter mug with a glass bottom that I got as a gift for being in a wedding and three beer steins I had found at garage sales. I never knew that Nicky had taken my collection seriously.

"I can't believe this... This is beautiful but I'm afraid that you spent way too much on me." I said. "This must have been expensive."

"You deserve it and I could never spend too much on you," Nicky said as she kissed me and climbed back on the bed with me."

"Thanks, sweetie, I love it."

"I knew that you would. As soon as I saw it I knew I had to get it for you," she said.

The funny thing was that, right after she said that, she started to cry. I asked her why she was crying and she said, "I am just so happy that I was able to give you that stein. I knew it would be special."

I pulled Nicky to me and held her in my arms for a long time and them we made love for the second time that night.

Thinking about that night always gave me a lump in my throat. It was just one of those happy memories.

I had plenty of time to think about how lucky I was to have found Nicky. I knew I would be lost without her. Suddenly it occurred to me that I was reviewing my life like an old man on his deathbed. I was young, alive and I had plenty of time to make even more great memories with Nicky. It was time for me to look to the future.

*****

By Monday I was more than ready to go home. Nicky had managed to get the day off and she was at the hospital early to wait for them to release me.

At ten o'clock an orderly wheeled me out to the main entrance and I got into Nicky's car. As we pulled away from the hospital Nicky said we were going to her parents house but I told her I wanted to go home.

"The house hasn't been cleaned yet," Nicky said.

"Detective Trenca gave me the name of a company that does the kind of clean up we need and I called them Friday and arranged for them to come today. I want to be there when they come to clean the mess and I want to see what was taken so we can file an insurance claim," I said.

Nicky didn't say another word on the ride home. I think she was afraid of how I would react to the mess that was waiting for us.

Before we pulled into the driveway at home I told Nicky that I thought it would be easier for me to go into the house through the front door than to have to deal with the stairs in the garage. Nicky parked the car in front of the garage door and came around the car to help me get out. Nicky held my arm as we slowly walked around to the front door. I began to feel nervous about what was waiting for us inside the house and I could see that Nicky was also uneasy.

Nicky unlocked the door and I went in first. As soon as I stepped inside I was struck by a metallic smell, kind of like copper. Then I saw it. At the bottom of the stair lay my small suitcase and carry on bag. Both were covered with blood. There was also a large puddle of congealed blood on the hardwood floor next to my bags. I remembered that the doctor had said that I lost about two pints of blood but this looked like a lot more than that to me.