Story: The One You're With - part 4

The One You're With

by Varian Milagro

Part 4

Rachel took that opportunity to excuse herself. She sent a text to Gabi as she walked toward the exit. Even though her sister probably had no memory of any of this she needed to talk to someone. She needed to sort all of this out in her mind. There were things that were not making sense. Like Cody complimenting her outfit, like he was seeing it for the first time. Did he have a form of the sight too?

Gabi wasn’t outside yet, but one of the Tavern’s employees was. The white apron was a give away. The young woman was quite busty and was wearing a pair of cutoffs so short that the half of the pockets dangled from beneath the faded blue denim. Her low-cut top showed off a lot of flesh. Rachel almost screamed when she realized that it was her daughter.

“Jeez, mom. You about gave me a heart attack.”

Now that she was closer she looked Paige up and down. In addition to larger breasts she also had small hoops in her nose and right eyebrow. There was also a tattoo of a feral looking mermaid holding a trident on her right shoulder.

Rachel was furious. Terrance had said that he wouldn’t change Paige. Why had he gone back on his promise? She suddenly remembered her conversation with the godlike being. It played before her eyes like a movie. She saw him saying that he wouldn’t change her daughter directly, but he also said that apples didn’t fall far from the tree.

“I changed so you changed,” Rachel said, mostly to herself. In this reality the genes she’d inherited from her parents had blessed her with a bigger bosom and she'd passed them on to her daughter. Her fashion style leaned toward the risqué and Paige had learned from her mom’s example. Every change inflicted upon Rachel rippled through the past, affecting her child in the present. “Well, fuck.”

“Such the potty mouth,” Paige said with a chuckle. “How many fucking times did you tell me not to swear?” 

“Too fucking many,” Rachel said with a sigh.

“You know, this is going to sound weird, but I have this mental image of you and me and we’re like totally different.” She looked down at her chest. “I just have this memory of being much smaller up top and dressing more like some plain Jane. You too.”

“It’s not weird, really.”

“What are you two reprobates doing out here?” Gabi yelled from across the parking lot, the lit cigarette in her mouth bobbing up and down as she spoke. “You should be inside being even more irresponsible.” Despite wearing a pair of stilettos with heels so thin that they looked like lethal weapons, she strode across the gravel parking lot like she was on a runway in Milan. 

The rest of her outfit consisted of skin-tight leather pants and a strip of cloth that technically covered her breasts. Her nipples were covered so she wasn’t topless according to state law. The cloth was thin enough that they showed that her nipples were pierced with small hoops. She was a dancer at Phantasia, the strip club that Cody had mentioned. She’d been a regular dancer there for nearly two years when Bull had sauntered in one night with nearly a dozen of his Lords of Chaos buddies. He left with one of their best dancers while the rest of the gang left with over ten grand from the safe in the backroom. 

Rachel wanted to grab her sister and apologize for all the changes to her life; she wasn’t supposed to be a stripper or dating an outlaw biker. Not that Gabi would know what she was talking about. She’d have no memories of the real reality. Being a stripper was her normal life.

“You got another one of those, Aunt Gabi?” Paige said with a guilty look on her face.

Rachel wanted to lash out, to tell her daughter not to smoke. She wanted to shout at Terrance for turning her loved ones into smokers. But she kept her mouth shut. She was more afraid that if she spoke the words out of her mouth would be to ask for a cigarette for herself. 

In this reality mother and daughter had both quit smoking the day before. Rachel had caught Paige stealing cigarettes from her purse two years ago. At first she’d tried punishing her, but then she just got a boyfriend who was legal and had him buy them for her. Rachel finally gave up, feeling like a hypocrite trying to get her daughter to stop doing something that she didn’t have the willpower to stop herself. They’d made a pact yesterday to both quit. The last 36 hours had been hell for them both.

“You know it.” Gabi handed over a cigarette and then gave her niece a light. “You want one too?”

“No thanks,” Rachel lied as she watched her daughter draw on the cigarette for a couple of seconds and then let out a thick cloud of smoke, wanting to join them in the worst way. She was more determined than ever that she was going to win by any means necessary. She had another flashback. In it, Terrance was speaking, he was saying something about sinking the eight ball and while she knew it was important somehow, she couldn’t remember why, but she had the distinct impression that it would help her win a pool game.

"I've been dying for one of these for the last two hours." Paige said as she looked over at her mom. "Sorry, I couldn't take the withdrawals any more."

"I understand." And for the first time in her life Rachel really did understand why a person would willingly pollute their body in such a fashion. She wasn't sure how she was going to make it through the night without succumbing herself. If she didn't know that salvation might be only a few pool games away she'd probably get a cigarette from Gabi too.

“I need to head back in; my break is almost over.” As Paige gave her mom a hug she said into her ear, ”It's weird, but for some reason I feel like this is the first time I've ever smoked a cigarette. I think I’m going mental.”

“You’re not. Just go with it,” Rachel said before releasing her daughter.

Paige gave her aunt a hug as well before walking back toward the tavern, taking back to back drags on her cigarette along the way.

Bull exited the tavern and held the door for Paige. He looked bulkier, but it might be the Lords of Chaos leather jacket that he was wearing, making him look like he was packing another 20 pounds of muscle. 

“Wow,” Rachel said as the man strode over to them with a confident swagger.

“Don’t I know it,” Gabi said. She wore a saucy smile on her face. “I really lucked out when I met him.”

“You wanna go on a ride, babe?” Bull said as he drew nearer. “It’s a pick up run not far from here. We’re riding heavy, but don’t expect there’ll be much in the way of trouble. You can hold one of my shotguns, if you want.” 

"Please tell me you’re getting more Oxy,” Gabi said.

“You know it. Meet me over at my ride. We’re leaving in five.”

Gabi addressed her sister. “You be okay here by yourself for about a half hour?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I'll still be losing at pool with Cody. I don't know why he keeps me as a partner. I'm really terrible," Rachel said.

"I can think of a pair of reasons," Gabi motioned with her eyes toward her sister's cleavage. "I've been watching him watch you and I think he likes you and not just for the girls."

"He's sweet and great looking, but he's kind of young," Rachel said. "Besides there’s a couple other, age appropriate guys that I’m kind of interested in."

"That’s a load of crap. No one gives a flying fuck when a guy marries a younger woman, why should you?"

"I just would feel more comfortable if we were at least within a decade of each other. What would Paige say if I came home with someone who is only a few years older than her?"  

"Good going mom?" Gabi suggested.

“Anyway,” Rachel said as she rolled her eyes. “I think I’ll probably end up hooking up with one of the guys we’re playing against. I just don’t know which one yet.” With a wicked smirk on her face she added, “I’m hoping I can snag the both of them.”

“You slut!” Gabi said with mock seriousness. “I'm totally jealous.”

When she arrived back at the table her mood improved abruptly, not only was there a new boilermaker waiting for her, but there were also four shots of tequila. Her mood dipped a little when she found out that only one of them was for her, only to drop again when they wouldn’t let her drink even that one shot until she agreed to the deal they’d worked out during her absence. 

"We’re playing four more games,” Cody said.

“Can’t we play five?” Rachel said quickly. Since they’d lost four games already she and Cody would need to win at least five to be the overall champions and save Paige from becoming a supernatural being’s plaything. 

“Not this again,” Lance groaned.

"You're going to have to be happy with four games," Jackson said. He shot Lance a nasty look.

Rachel turned to Cody. "But if we win all four then we'll have a tie. Who will be the overall winner?"

"Money would be the tie breaker," Cody said. "Wouldn't you guys agree?" Once the other two nodded their heads in approval he continued, “It’s $500 a game with a few caveats. If either team wins all four games then it's ten grand. Now, neither of them have ten grand with them, they barely have enough to cover the $500 a game even after pocketing $400 of mine, but Jackson has put up the title to his 79 Camaro. It's a convertible and he claims that it's worth at least ten grand."

"It's worth a hell of a lot more than that," Jackson said from the pool table where he was arranging the balls in the wooden triangle. "I fixed it up, cherry. Worth four times that easy."

"You got three choices. Put something else up, sell it to someone here who has forty grand lying around or don't make the bet. All are fine with me." When it became clear that Jackson wasn't going to reply, Cody continued his conversation with Rachel. "Because he thinks his car is worth so much more, I let him wrangle another wager out of me. He gets the first break and if he manages to run the table again he gets a bonus five grand on the spot along with the option to quit then and there or to continue and try for another ten thousand by winning all four games."

"I think I'm going to be sick," Rachel said. Not only was her daughter's life on the line, but also a fuck ton of Cody's money.

Cody leaned in close and lowered his voice. "Don't worry. He won't run it again. Remember that absurd show he put on when he ran the second game?”

Rachel looked at him blankly.

“That was a once, maybe twice, in a lifetime kind of celebration."

Rachel really hoped that he was right.

Jackson took aim and slammed the white ball into the yellow one with almost as much force as Cody had done in one of the earlier games. Being ready for the noise she was able to stifle a shriek. After the balls finally stopped racing around the table she had to stifle laughter. None of the balls had fallen into any of the holes.

Jackson screamed as he stormed away from the table. It looked like he was headed outside. Knowing that Cody would be occupied for a while at the pool table, Rachel made her way over to Lance. She didn’t have to say a word. She made eye contact and then motioned with her head toward the bathrooms. He was up in a flash. 

He entered the men’s room first and she followed closely behind. There was one guy peeing into a urinal, swaying back and forth like he was on a sailboat in a hurricane. Moments after cramming themselves into one of the stalls, he grabbed her and shoved his tongue down her throat. One hand grabbed at her breasts while the other was going up her skirt. Her stomach lurched at the smell emanating from the toilet bowl. She tried her best to ignore the smell of piss and vomit and focus instead on Lance’s muskiness. When had the man showered last? She didn’t care. He might be a little rank, but it was better than the other odors in the place.

Her concerns about the odors of the bathroom faded as a fire erupted within her body. His rough, callused hands scratched her soft, tender skin painfully and it was making her hornier by the second. When they raked across her nipples she thought she was going to explode with desire. The rougher he was, the hotter her fire grew. If he didn’t slow down she’d have lava spilling down her legs soon. Once he had her panties around her ankles he spun her around and forced her up against the back wall. 

“I ain’t got a rubber on me, so I sure as shit hope you’re on the pill. I ain’t raising no kid or paying for no abortion neither.”

Rachel was having a hard time remembering if she was on the pill or not. In one reality she wasn’t, her ex-husband had undergone a vasectomy and she’d been faithful so there wasn’t a point. But in another reality they’d been divorced for a couple of years and she’d gone on the pill when she’d rejoined the dating pool. Her brain was so muddled with desire that she couldn’t remember which reality was real and which wasn’t. 

“Fuck me in the ass, baby. Then we don’t have to worry about it.” She wanted his cock in her pussy, but thoughts of changing diapers on her fortieth birthday sent ice cold chills down her spine.

“You got a cigarette?” Lance said as he slowly stroked his cock. “It’d be fucking hot if you were smoking while we fucked.”

“No, baby. I left them back at the table.”

“Fuck it.” Lance shoved his cock into her pussy and then jack-rabbitted into her for a few minutes before pulling all the way out.

“Don’t stop. Keep fucking me. I want you so bad.” Her concerns about pregnancy had been overridden by a burning need to feel Lance exploding inside her pussy.

“I’m going to fuck you, don’t worry.” He lined up his slick cock at her rosebud and shoved.

Rachel screamed from a mix of pain and pleasure. She thought that he must have ripped something in her when he shoved his thick cock into her virgin asshole. The more pain he caused the more she got off on it. She wondered what he thought about spanking. A few good swats on her ass would probably send her over the top.

“Fuck me harder,” Rachel cried.

“It’s your turn, Lance.” Cody called from the door to the bathroom. At least it sounded like Cody. “If you’re in her too Rachel, you might want to exit separately. Jackson is about to blow a gasket and seeing you two together might send him over the edge. He’s somehow got it in his head that you’re his girlfriend.”

“One more minute. Tell him I’m taking a shit,” Lance grunted. A few seconds later he grabbed the back of her neck and then forced her onto her hands and knees, her face right above the toilet. “Bark for me, little doggy.”

“Arf, arf.” Rachel’s orgasm ricocheted through her body. No man had ever treated her like this and she’d been fine with that up until now. She’d dated a few jerks in her life, but they’d at least treated her like a human being. No one had made her bark like a dog while sodomizing her in a men’s bathroom. Where had Lance been all her life?

“Let me go out first,” Lance said as he pulled up his pants. “Count to fifty before leaving.”

She did her best to make herself presentable while she did as instructed. When she rejoined the others, Lance was at the pool table, lining up a shot. Jackson was glaring at her. His body was like a coiled spring, ready to launch. She took her seat next to her partner and tried to hide how painful it was to sit. She took a long pull from her drink hoping it would help her relax. Unfortunately, it increased her need for a cigarette, something she hadn’t thought was possible, given how badly she’d wanted one earlier. 

Lance only made three balls into the pockets before missing. 

As she approached the table with the long stick in her hand, she tried to think of a way she could put the black ball in the corner hole and not the white one. If she did that again, then her team would lose and Paige would be left to Terrance's mercy. He’d already turned Gabi into a stripper who was dating an outlaw biker and herself into a busty slut who was into degrading, painful sex. What would he do to her daughter? She couldn't even imagine what kind of kinks a supernatural being might have.

She wished to herself that she knew how to sink the eight without sinking the white ball too. And then she did. Backspin. All she needed to do was put some backspin on the ball. 

As she chalked up her cue stick, a whole slew of pool knowledge flooded her mind. Tonight wasn’t the first night that she’d played pool. She’d played plenty of times before. A coworker at Premier Bank named Max Winters had shown her how to play. They used to have lunch together twice a week at the Uptown Bar and Grill, less than a mile from work. After eating they’d play a game or two of pool. Unfortunately that led to them sleeping together which led to her divorce a few years ago. 

She walked around the table once, lining up the shot in her head. This time when she took aim at the cue ball, she aimed lower than before. There wasn’t a lot of distance between the two balls so she didn’t go too low. As soon as the cue ball hit the eight it came to a dead stop. The eight dropped with a satisfying plunk into the corner pocket and her life was once again rewritten.

Terrance was back and this time he was whispering to her partner. 

"I bet she was quite the looker when she was younger too," Terrance said. "Nothing wrong with having a few side hustles either."

A soon as he disappeared a rush of energy coursed through her body. Her skin tingled in a delightful way. Quite a few wrinkles around her eyes faded. She rolled her shoulder and wiggled her hips. Her joints and tendons felt looser while her skin felt tighter. She was tempted to fish her license out of her purse, but she already knew what it would say. She was nearly five years younger than she had been before. That meant that she’d only been four when her parents had divorced. It also meant that she hadn’t quite been old enough to drive a car when she'd given birth to Paige.

More memories came at her. Max Winters had not only been her occasional pool coach and sometimes lover, but he’d also taught her a few financial scams. She was no longer the senior loan officer at her bank. She was working at a different bank entirely, a smaller one that didn't do too much digging into her past. They'd been happy enough to have someone with her skill set. The bigger banks would do enough due diligence to learn that she'd been fired from her first job as a loan officer for running a scam with one of her coworkers. 

The only reason she hadn't gone to jail was that she'd been sleeping with her supervisor along with the senior VP that he reported to. The only reason she hadn't slept with his boss, the CEO, was because he was gay. The threat of a sexual harassment lawsuit and all the bad publicity was enough for the bank to sever ties quietly. She'd also gotten a pretty decent severance package as well, but that had come with a warning not to bother trying to get a job with any interstate bank.

So, she worked at a local, podunk bank as a junior loan officer despite having more experience and knowledge than her supervisor. Nice thing was that her new bank wasn’t very sophisticated and it was pretty easy to get away with scams as long as she didn’t get too greedy. Even with that extra cash, she still didn’t make even half what she’d been making before meeting Terrance. 

Cody was up first in game six. He executed another sledge-hammer break and four balls fell into the pockets, two stripes and two solids. He was a little annoyed with himself, his ever-present smile had vanished. After clearing the tables of stripes and setting up the eight he took his seat and Rachel asked him why he was upset.

"I sank too many of theirs. The table is wide open and if Lance is ever going to put on a streak now would be the time. He has five balls to pocket and none of them are especially difficult. I'm afraid that we might not win this one."

"Isn't there something you can do?" Rachel wanted to cry.

"No, but you might."

"What is it? Tell me."

"You're going to have to figure it out for yourself. I'll say this though. We cannot interfere directly, but if we were to do something that took a player's eye off their game at a crucial moment and we had a modicum of plausible deniability..." Cody left it at that and would say no more on the subject.

Rachel stewed as Lance sank the one ball followed by the seven. When the number three ball dropped into the side pocket she began to panic. How she wished she knew how to make him miss. 

She had a sudden moment of clarity. It was obvious that Lance had a serious smoking fetish. Perhaps if she timed it right she might be able to use that knowledge to make him miss.

When Rachel removed the pack of cigarettes from her purse, Lance looked up. He took a step back from the table and watched her open the pack while slowly chalking the tip of his cue stick. His eyes lingered on her as she slowly removed a cigarette, using the long nails she’d gained after the fourth game. He finally looked away when Jackson spoke up.

“I thought you were in a fucking hurry!”

Lance jerked like someone had popped a balloon right behind his head. He set the chalk on the table’s bumper and then leaned forward to take his shot. He looked away from the ball in time to see Cody light her cigarette. She took a long drag and then breathed in as she removed the cigarette from her lips, taking the smoke deep into her lungs. His eyes were riveted on her. She held the smoke and he waited too. Eventually his eyes went back to the ball as he drew back on the cue stick she started her exhale. His eyes left the ball just as he took his shot. The tip of the cue stick glanced off the white ball and he missed his shot.

Rachel let the cigarette dangle from her mouth as she sank the eight ball with ease.

Her body experienced more of that skin tightening, joints and tendons loosening sensation as the years faded away until she was no longer in her thirties. She was twenty-nine like her sister, her twin sister. She and Gabi weren’t identical twins for which she was very thankful. She’d always thought that growing up with an identical twin would be creepy as hell. She forgot how to breathe when her breasts shrank. She didn’t want to lose the girls! While she’d only had them for an hour or so, she’d grown quite attached to them. She breathed a sigh of relief when they only shrank by a cup size. On the plus side, they were all natural once again. They were still large enough to draw a man’s gaze, but not so big that she looked like a sideshow freak.

She was much closer to Cody's age now. It definitely wouldn't be robbing the cradle any more. Their ages were close enough that she'd no longer be considered a cougar. It would have been weird seventeen years ago. He would have been in kindergarten when she was in middle school, but now that they were both in their twenties it wasn't so strange. He was still near the outset of his twenties whereas she was close to its bitter end.

Somehow Paige was still her daughter although it was not really possible given their age difference. She was only eleven years older, so how was that even possible? When she thought too long about it she got a headache. Yet, in her heart of hearts, she knew that Paige was still hers and for the time being that was enough. 

It also occurred to her that she’d never been married in this reality. That made her want to win the next game all the more. In addition to wanting to save Paige from Terrance she was also hoping that if she won another game and she became even more of Cody’s type maybe he would propose and she could finally have the wedding of her dreams before she was a spinster of thirty. 

She made more money in this reality. She was still a junior loan officer at a crappy little bank where she ran her little scams, but she also had a cam show that earned her a bunch of cash. Several years ago she’d learned how much some men would pay just to watch a woman smoke. She figured that if she was going to ruin her health she might as well make some money at it. So she set up a cam show for men with a smoking fetish. She didn’t even have to take off her clothes. All she had to do was smoke in front of the camera while wearing some lingerie and the money rolled in.

The story continues with Part 5