「ザキさん、こんなクソ寒い夜中になんの用ですか」 空気も凍るような寒さの夜、理由も告げずに俺を稽古場へ呼び出した小劇団の先輩、崎山に不満を隠さず声を掛けた。そこは、稽古場というより廃倉庫といったほうがしっくりくるボロ屋で、風が吹かないだけ外よりマシという状況だった。貧乏劇団ゆえ暖房器具など置いてすらない。 「おう、すまねぇな、森田。ちょっと見せたいもんがあってな」 「金貸してくれってのは無しですよ」 「そんなんじゃねぇよ。芝居の話だ、芝居の」 崎山はもう四十も半ば、芽の出ない役者だ。売れない理由は、今時となっては珍しい「飲む」「打つ」「買う」と三拍子を見事に揃えた素行の悪さが、業界中に知れ渡っているせいだった。どこぞの脚本家の奥さんに横恋慕して旦那に殺されかけただの、賭場で負けて裸で電車に乗って留置所に入れられ...
II. Spark Note: To make up for last chapter's lack of sex, there's a lot of it this chapter. Enjoy, and I look forward to any feedback! * Rachel quickly made her way across campus, not paying much attention to the world around her. Her lack of awareness, as it would turn out, would cost her. She passed by the large gymnasium building, briefly wondering...
IV. Magic Touch They pulled apart once spots began dancing across their visions, heavy panting flooding the otherwise silent air. Ai grinned at her and curled her finger, taking a more firm hold on the D-ring. "So you like the collar?" "A lot," Rachel returned with her own grin. "You've got my tastes down." Smirking, Ai began taking small steps backward...
Cowboy let his cab roll the final fifteen feet as he steered the taxi to the curb in front of Philip's converted hardware store. He dropped Mei Chun with a cheerful, "See ya soon, little lady." It was a cheerfulness Mei appreciated, one which showed her that not everyone thought her a whore, because she was certain Philip would. 'But I was so happy half an...
I work for Aardvark Industries. We're the big company out in the industrial park on the edge of town. We employ over 11,000 people. A lot of people in town have a place to live and food to eat because of AI. We run a pretty clean operation. If we find someone who lied on their resume, out they go! If we find someone trying to pull a fast one on a customer,...
Please read the first chapter of my life with Kimiko! -------------------- "Ohaiyo gozaimasu (Welcome) to our home!" her father called out to me as he extended his hand in greeting. Any apprehension that I may have had about meeting him evaporated into the air! I had come to Osaka to meet the rest of Kimiko's family and seek her father's approval. Kimiko'...
0. Prologue A blonde woman sat on a bed, breath whistling out through her nose. The metal circlets wrapped around her wrists clinked as she shifted, trying to get as comfortable as possible with her arms held as they were behind her back. Taking her mind off the discomfort of the rubber ball stretching her jaw, she focused her mind on pondering what was d...
During my senior year in high school, my economics teacher thought it would be a neat little exercise to have us students learn about the world of investments. So she had a couple of local stock brokers come in and give us a couple of presentations. Mutual funds, the stock market, penny stocks, treasury bonds, junk bonds, the works. The number of choices wer...
When I was seventeen I moved from the small country town where I was raised, to the much larger capital city so I could attend a decent university. After studying for a year I decided to move out from living with my relatives so I could enjoy a little more independence. I found a nice apartment in a suburb close to the university with a large population of s...
It was well after one when Philip, feeling surprisingly spry and alert, returned from his evening with Tim. As the night had progressed and the alcohol accumulated in his bloodstream, he felt a developing sympathy for the younger man. It wasn't difficult to understand his predicament; some rich guy was swooping in to dazzle his girlfriend and spirit her off...