Press Your Luck 22 (Patreon)

Danny walked along the terracotta path and past white stucco stone columns, stopping on the covered patio at the word of the security guard who had been escorting him. The man spoke briefly in silence to a woman currently reclining in a patio chair beside the pool. With its gated entrance, high walls, Zen courtyard, exercise room, and now pool complete with a rocky waterfall, it was little wonder that Danny thought he was being asked to meet at a luxury resort, or possible rehab facility, rather than a private residence. And if it weren’t for the number of men in suits speaking into earpieces and openly carrying guns walking the property he could still be convinced.

The woman turned to look at Danny before standing. As she approached Danny realized the woman was half naked. “Ola’ Mr Sanders,” She smiled as she approached and made no motion to cover herself. “It is an honor to meet the man who saved my daughter.”

“I-it’s nothing, really, Mrs Velasco.” Danny giggled nervously as looked away and reached out to shake the woman’s hand.

Slender arms wrapped around Danny’s broad chest as she gave him a warm hug. “It is not, nothing.” Her voice quivered momentarily before she stepped back. “And please, call me Adriana.” The man who had escorted Danny wrapped a soft robe around Adriana much to Danny’s relief.

“I suppose not, Mrs Adriana.”

Adriana smirked, tucking her dark hair behind her ear, “You have spoken to our head of security? You understand your duties?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Good. My daughter is to get out of school in an hour. That should give you enough time to change clothes.”

Danny quickly examined himself again, yep, he still wore his gray suit, white dress shirt, black tie, and brown loafers. Or as Harlow always called it, his “funeral suit. Because you should bury it.” He would laugh. “Change?” Danny clenched his fist briefly before reminding himself why he was doing this. He knew his sister was joking about calling an ex…,or at least about owing him sex, and while he had no problem calling a professional like their father might have he hated that his financial situation had put Valerie in a position where she had to deal with an ex.

She always acted tough but even when she did the dumping he could tell it took a toll on her emotional state. His pride wasn’t worth the risk. Not when their home had once again been filled with the sounds of her giggling with one of her friends. He still wasn’t a fan of the reality tv they insisted on watching or talking about for hours on end but she was happy again. So he would endure.

“Yes, you were told to wear a suit were you not?” She quickly turned to the man beside her, “Did Dennis not tell him about the suit policy?”

“He did, ma’am.”

“I was. This…is my suit.”

“My brother-in-law gave you a suit, no?”

“Uh…yes ma’am he did, but it…” Danny brushed his hair back, “It’s actually my nicest suit now so I was saving it for special occasions.”

“This–” She gestured to Danny’s basic suit, –“was your former nicest suit. No?”

“Uh, yes ma’am.”

Adriana swore in what Danny recognized to be Portuguese before turning to Danny’s escort and continuing speaking in Portuguese. The man simply nodded and responded in kind before she turned back to Danny, “Eduardo was going to shadow you today so you can learn the important routes.”

“And now?”

“He still is. But your first stop will be the tailor. This will have to do for today.”

Before Danny could say anything Eduardo took his arm and turned him around, “Come on, gringo’.”

An hour later, Danny stood outside of St.Theresa’s all girl catholic school. When the bell finally rang a swarm of children descended upon the streets like locusts. After a few minutes a dark-haired girl approached him and Eduardo. “Elana.” Eduardo said, opening the back door.

“Are you the man who saved my life?”

“I suppose I am but you can just call me Danny.” Danny reached into his pocket and took out a small folded sheet of paper suddenly remembering, “I’m supposed to say something,” He quickly scanned the top sheet which had bullet point facts about her he needed to have memorized by tomorrow.

• Elana Velasco: 18
• Blood type: O
• Allergies: Penicillin/Shellfish
• Medications: Adderall
• Pick up codeword: Pumpernickel
• Condition(s): Grounded/rest

“Pumpernickel?” He read the code word and gave Eduardo an odd look. Slim arms nearly knocked Danny off his feet as Elana threw her arms around Danny’s waist. ‘Oh boy, they’re both huggers.’ He thought, looking to his escort for help. The man simply shrugged.

“Thank you so much.”

“Anytime, kid.”

Elana stepped back, examining her giant hero, “...Why are you dressed like Atticus Finch on steroids?”

Danny sighed, “I’m getting ready for comicon.”

“Bold choice.” Elana smiled before she climbed into the backseat of the black town car.

“I think she likes you.” Eduardo said as he got into the passenger side.

“Thanks.”

Danny thought Eduardo was kidding at first, but as the days passed into the week he realized that Elana regarded him differently than the other security detail. She continued teasing Danny, even after he picked her up the next day wearing his brand new suit. One afternoon when she learned how old he was she took to teasing him for being an “old man”, especially if he made the mistake of saying he never heard of a pop singer. Unlike with Eduardo, Elana actually spoke to him. Even if half of the time she asked him how the “case” was going. The other half of her conversations reminded him of his sister when she was a senior in high school. He had a front row seat to the juiciest gossip he did not care about.

After his visit to the tailor, Danny was surprised to learn that over a dozen packages addressed to him had been delivered to the house. He was less surprised that Lucy had opened the boxes. “What’d you do, hit the lottery?”

“No.”

“Then what? Cause no way all of this cost less than the AC.”

“I was going to wait to tell you but…” he gestured to the torn open boxes in the living room, “I got a new job.”

“You got a new job.”

“Yeah.”

“When?”

“Last week.”

“Last we-!” Lucy cut herself off before she yelled. “You got this job and didn’t tell me why exactly?!” Almost immediately the answer appeared to dawn on Lucy, “You’re working with Jefferson again, aren’t you.”

“No. I’m…I took the driving job for his wife’s brother.”

“Why? The AC’s…it’s fixed.”

“What do you mean why? This house is old. It won’t be the last time something breaks that I can't fix.”

“So you work for the devil? What was wrong with your old job? It paid good money.”

Danny blanked as Lucy stormed out of the room, Harlow had always told him he should quit his job because it paid “peanuts”. “Baby we were barely scraping by!” He shouted, following her into their room, “All it took was for one of us to get sick and that was it!”

“We would’ve made do.”

“I don’t get it, you were fine with me bouncing at a club but not me driving some kid to school?”

“I wasn’t and you got hurt!”

Danny watched silently as Lucy folded his clothes. Valerie had changed a lot after high school, she said she wanted people to take her more seriously so she stopped doing a lot of things she enjoyed. Until Lucy moved in. Valerie was her old bubbly self and perhaps it was because Valerie was much more open about it that it wasn’t as surprising to him. What surprised him most was Lucy’s transformation or….was it a metamorphosis? Valerie used to play annoyingly catchy pop songs everyday after school, and Harlow had been one of the loudest critics of the genre, and yet now whenever Danny came home Lucy was listening to the music while she exercised. And yeah he had been checking on Danny’s wrist every day, making sure he was okay or feeling better and doing what he was supposed to do but he had begun to think it was out of guilt or possibly to get out of their night time activities. Lucy acted like she cared about him which is what it was…an act. They never made any real formal declaration, and yes they had sex but Lucy said more than once it was in case Marcus or Oswald rooted through their trash. Maybe this was more of that “repression” Val was talking about?  Was she really using all of this as an excuse to transition? It had to be…the surprises in his search history that no one else could possibly see? Why would she go to those lengths? Even Harlow wasn’t that paranoid. She never brought it up…but she didn’t bring up her feelings often. Their school wasn’t exactly the most accepting of the much scrawnier Harlow, most of the football team picked on him. Did she think he was the same way? Even after all this time? Danny felt the anger rise in him quickly then slowly fade. They never talked about anything important. It was a complaint he heard from previous exes. He couldn’t lay all the blame at Lucy’s feet when he was acting the same way.

Danny sat beside Lucy and slowly put his arm around her, “Hey, everything’s gonna be okay.”

“No it won’t!” Lucy cried. “You’re gonna get shot, then what am I gonna do!? I’m stuck like this and all alone!”

Danny couldn’t ever remember seeing Harlow cry, but Lucy had proven before to be more willing to display her emotions. “Val will still be here.” He said gently while rubbing her shoulder.

“Not funny.” What Danny didn’t know was only a week before Harlow had learned just how limited his options were as Harlow. Sammy had abandoned him, if anything happened to Daniel he would have no way out of this hell! Valerie would kick him out for sure if anything happened to Daniel. Hell she would probably call up Marcus! Looking like he did, they would make him pay them back on his back. He already had sex with two men and somehow both had managed to make him cum. Sucked more cocks than he ever would want to count when one was too many! He still had these tits stuck to his chest. His dick either hurt constantly when it was glued away or hung limply when it was free. It was all too much and finally he broke down into sobs as he clung to Danny.

After a few minutes of just letting her cry, Danny kissed the top of her head and gently spoke again, “I’m gonna be okay. I’m just driving her to and from a catholic school. I’m not going to anywhere dangerous.”

“Then why do they need you?” She choked weakly.

“Elana, the girl from the club, remember? This is how she wanted to thank me. It pays so much more than the old job.”

“I don’t care.”

“I thought you might be happy, this way I could help you with your…situation.”

“I am.” She shrugged.

“Then why are you upset?”

“I don’t know.” Lucy pouted.

“Are you really that worried I’m going to get hurt?” She shrugged silently. “I promise, I will always come home to you.”

Lucy looked up at Danny, her face now stained with the wet trails of mascara, before she could speak they both heard the front door open and close, “What’s with all these boxes?!” Valerie shouted.

“I better go tell her.” He said as he started to stand. Lucy clung to Danny, desperately pulling him back beside her on the bed. “Okay.” Danny whispered.

The last thing Harlow wanted Val to see was the fact he had been crying for any reason. Let alone a reason he couldn’t even explain to himself. He should be happy that Daniel was making more money and willing to put it towards his debt. His heart shouldn’t have jumped when Daniel made that promise. He shouldn’t be holding on to Daniel like he was the last chopper out of Saigon. But here he was. In bed with his pretend boyfriend, letting him comfort him after he broke down crying. ‘I seriously need to get out of here.’ He thought as he felt Daniel lay them both back onto the bed.

The following nights Danny didn’t push for any sexual activity. Not only was Lucy no doubt not in the mood, Danny wasn’t either. Seeing Adriana each day certainly got his dick hard and he would love to have been able to come home and let his girlfriend take care of him, but now that role fell to him. The rest of the week they just split their time between watching television with Valerie, who was ecstatic for Danny's new job and cuddling in bed until they fell asleep. He knew he should be doing more, talking to her about the important things. He just did not know how. His father always told him to mind his business, “If someone wants you to know something they’ll tell you.” He made the excuse the first couple of nights that Lucy would fall asleep in his lap while they watched tv. But after a few nights she stopped falling asleep in his lap, instead spending all of her time on his phone. He wondered when he would get paid so he could buy Lucy her own phone. His new search suggestions felt more like an invasion of privacy rather than a simple algorithm doing its job.

“Lucy?” He asked late one night after all three had gone to bed.

“Hmm?” She sighed. Even in bed she kept his phone by her side. He pretended not to see the new email account on his phone or the multiple emails she sent to various doctors.

“Is…how’re you feeling?”

“Pretty good. Why?”

“That’s good. I thought…maybe, you know we could…” ‘Jesus why is this so hard?!’ Danny shared a bed with her for nearly a month now, they had sex and did all the things couples do and before that they used to check out women together! Lucy, or Harlow, bout Danny his first lap dance for his eighteenth birthday. The irony was enough that Danny laughed even now. Clearing his throat he began again, “You know…since…you’re feeling better. I thought we could-”

“How’s your wrist?” She asked, sitting up on one arm.

“Huh? Oh, it still hurts. But-”

“Fine.”

“What?”

“We have been letting this slide, huh.” Lucy climbed over Danny and locked the bedroom door before fetching a condom out of the nightstand. “Oh…” Lucy blushed. “Last one.”

“Oh. Well we could-”

“Don’t worry, I’ll, like, get some more tomorrow. Val wanted me to, like, get some groceries anyway.”

“What? No I-”

Lucy grabbed Danny’s hands, sitting him up on the edge of the bed, “That’s totally not helping I bet.” Lucy giggled. “Take it out.”

“Huh?”

“I didn’t forget our deal. Just, like, don’t laugh.” Lucy tossed the condom on the bed beside Danny before picking up his phone and scrolling through it quickly, “Now, take it out before I change my mind.”

Harlow stared down at Daniel. He had almost a whole week off from this unfortunate task and already forgot why he didn’t just throw Daniel the condom and let him have fun alone. Beyond the fact he got severe tunnel vision when he was horny, he did owe the big lug for helping him out. Now he owed him even more since he was working in the belly of the beast. No matter what Daniel said they both knew Velasco was linked with the cartel, and there was no way that was entirely safe. Harlow pushed the thought out of his mind as he played toxic by Britney Spears.  “I said–” Harlow turned on the bedside lamp–“take out your cock.” His voice dripped with sex as planted his yellow five inch heeled foot between Daniel’s legs. Harlow knew the image he presented as he bent forward, giving Daniel an even better view of his fake breasts, his canary yellow lace siren bra and panties set matched his t-strap peep toe platform heels. “You can manage that at least, can’t you?” Not wasting another minute Daniel pulled his boxers off completely.

Harlow turned around, swaying his ass in time with the music and tracing his hands along his sides. For the most part he mimicked what he had learned from his youtube classes, only ever adding in a specific move he always enjoyed watching other strippers do. Harlow licked his lips as he turned around, covering his chest with one arm and removing his bra with the other. Even in the dim light he could see Daniel’s hard cock standing at full attention. Turning again Harlow smiled over his shoulder at Daniel, throwing the bra to his boyfriend. Daniel’s smile as he caught it made Harlow blush for some reason. Embarrassment no doubt.  At some point it must have become too much for Daniel, he assumed, as two large hands grabbed his hips and pulled him into his lap. The large cock pressing into his backside. Facing away he at least couldn’t see just how hard he was making his best friend. Even if he felt strangely proud of the improvement he made in such a short amount of time. Harlow briefly wondered if Daniel’s wrist was as much as he said it was or if he was milking things for special treatment. Harlow couldn't help but giggle as the thought that he was the one milking Daniel.

But as Britney’s song came to a close and the next began he thought of Ray’s cock taking advantage of Harlow’s arousal at submitting to Naomi and teasing him before he finally put it in. Would Danny lick him in the same way or just shove it in like Ted? Harlow continued to gyrate on his friend’s lap while he massaged his fake breasts. For a moment he thought his answer had come when he felt the tip of Daniel’s cock press against the entrance to his hole. He opened his mouth to tell his friend to stop, instead he squealed, “Fuck!”. Harlow slapped a hand over his mouth too late to escape the girlish moan that escaped his lips. Why did he moan? Why did he moan like that?! He didn’t even touch his dick. It was still lying between his thighs without so much as a twitch. No pain. No confusion. But…feeling Daniel’s tip touch his hole? No, it had to be something else.

‘I need to get this over with.’ Harlow stood to his heeled feet and immediately pulled back into Daniel’s lap. “Stay.” He growled in a low whisper. He held Harlow down with one hand on his hip and the other on his throat.

“D-Daniel?” Harlow whispered, arching his back to see the look of lust in his friend’s eyes. “S-st-”

Daniel slipped his tongue between Harlow’s lips. Their tongues wrestled and intertwined for dominance. The beat was lost. The music was ignored. Nothing but their lusts entered their minds as Harlow reached back and grabbed Daniel’s hair. Grinding his ass against his cock Harlow finally felt his own penis pulsing in between his legs but not enough to pull against the glued skin. He would have been unsatisfactorily pleased to learn that his cock wasn’t twitching for Daniel of all people and he could chalk everything else up to weird pentup sexual needs if not for his asshole. With each stroke of Daniel’s cock between Harlow’s tight and toned ass he could feel Daniel’s head or shaft grazing the entrance to his hole. “Mo-Mo-” Harlow gasped between moans.

“Oh baby, fuck this is so hot.” Danny panted, bending Lucy over.

“D-Daniel.” Harlow moaned. “D-Baby…did you…”

“You like that baby?” Daniel left an arm around Harlow’s waist, the right he slipped to Harlow’s crotch.

“What are you-” Harlow slapped his hands over his mouth again. Another unexpected moan somewhere between pain and pleasure interrupted him as he felt his dick pull angrily towards freedom.

“You like that?” Daniel’s fingers started slowly at first but increased their attack quickly.

“Yes!” He hissed.

“I can’t hear you.”

“Yes.” Harlow moaned. Between Daniel’s cock knocking at his backdoor and Daniel’s hand stroking his imprisoned dick he didn’t know which would drive him crazy first! “Yes! Fuck!”

“I’m gonna-I’m gonna…” Daniel moaned, his warning came too late as thick ropes of cum stained Harlow’s lower back.

The couple fell back onto the bed, both trying to catch their breath. “You…you forgot the condom.” Harlow gasped, laying atop Daniel.

“I’m sorry, baby.” Daniel grabbed his hand giving it a gentle kiss, “Next time.” he panted. “That…was hot.” He chuckled. “Gimme a second and I can-”

“No.” Harlow said harshly. “I mean…why?”

“You…didn’t cum, did you?”

“I did.” Harlow’s face burned bright. He didn’t want to admit that he had definitely been enjoying what Daniel was doing and had nearly came just from dry humping his boyfriend his pretend boyfriend. His own dick tore and tried to pull itself free, screaming for its own pleasure but that would be a small price to pay to not have Daniel make him actually cum.

“You promise?”

Harlow reached into his panties and scooped his precum onto two fingers and showed it to Daniel as proof, “Promise.” Harlow smiled in false satisfaction. Before he could react Daniel grabbed Harlow’s hand and licked the precum from his fingers. “What the hell?” The large man smirked before opening his mouth proudly displaying he had swallowed the small glob of precum. “Why?”

He shrugged. “Because I’m not afraid to.” Danny wasn’t sure what compelled him to clean Lucy’s fingers like that but the smile on her face told him it was the right idea.

Harlow's smile remained even as he felt his stomach twist into a knot. “Don’t forget the condom next time.” He said softly as he laid back onto Daniel’s chest. His heart was still pounding from being brought to the edge of orgasm. His dick throbbed and twitched but the pain had finally subsided.

Weeks passed as Daniel became accustomed to his new job. His first pay day would be in a few days. He had opened a separate savings account just for Lucy. It would take some time even with the money he was making now but she would be able to afford her breast surgery by next year. He was nothing but smiles all week  as he pictured how happy she would be. And how grateful.

When Elana climbed into the backseat of the black town car she was shocked to see her mother. “Ola’ mãe.” She said sweetly.

“Não puedo diga oi para conmigo!”  Adriana snapped back.

Danny put the car in gear, thanking his lucky stars he wasn’t in Elana’s shoes right now. ‘I don’t know much spanish and even less portuguese but I know an ass chewin’ when I hear it.’ He wished he didn’t know any of either or the car came with a glass partition he could close to give them some privacy. Or better yet if he could trade seats with any other driver on the road. From the tone and context and his rusty spanish he picked up through osmosis Elana had said “Hey mom.” as sweet as could be.

“Don’t you hey me!” he figured out from Adriana’s biting tone and quick response.

They continued arguing back and forth for several minutes, each of them becoming more and more heated. Unfortunately the more heated they became the more Spanish he picked up. He heard Elana call someone a bruja. The fact that Adriana’s response wasn’t a string of obscenities led him to believe it must be about someone else other than her mother. The argument continued and Danny picked up more swears before his phone unfortunately rang.

Four eyes of two very angry women burned into the back of his head as he apologized, “I’m sorry about that ladies.” He answered, hoping it was the angel of death to save him, “Hello? This is he?”

The hate and rage dissipated between the two women as they watched Danny pull to the side of the road. “Is everything okay?” Elana asked, leaning over the front seats.

“Shh.” Adriana hushed, pulling her daughter back.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can.” He hung up the phone before quickly dialing another number. “Eduardo? Can you pick up Mrs. Adriana and Elana at-”

“No way! Hold on, what’s going on?”

“Elana!” Adriana hissed. “Is something the matter?” She asked Danny calmly.

“Uh..I’m not exactly sure? That was a hospital.”

“Is someone hurt?!” Adriana gasped.

“My girlfriend’s in the hospital. She had some sort of surgery.”

“Is she okay? For what?”

“They wouldn’t say what it was for. I’m not…family.”

“Then you should go to her.”

“I plan on it, ma’am. I just need Eduardo to-”

“No fuck that!”

“Elana!”

“Mae! His girlfriend could be dying! We should go now!”

“Don’t say such things!”

“It’s fine. I’m sure it’s…I’m sure she’s fine.” Had Jefferson found Lucy? Had he done something to her and simply kicked her to the curb as a message?! If he laid one finger on her head-

“But she is right.” Danny turned as he felt the gentle hand on his shoulder, “Go now. Eduardo can pick us up at the hospital.”

“Thank you.” Not waiting, Danny put the car in drive and peeled off the side of the road.