TITLE: Bloody Sunrise

FANDOM: Mel Gibson/Kurt Russell

MOVIE BASE: Tequila Sunrise (AU)

RATING/WARNING: NC-17 some chapters for Het. sex (cruder descriptions on purpose), non-consensual Slash and strong language

DISCLAIMER: The usual - don't own them, not trying to make any profit, etc, etc.

CHARACTERS: From the movie - Drug dealer who tries to go straight eventually Dale (Mac) McKussick, his best friend LAPD Vice Squad Captain Nick Frescia, Mexican drug lord Carlos Escalante and DEA Agent Hal Maguire Original characters - Catherine Chase, Annie and other assorted minor ones.

AUTHOR: Max

FEEDBACK: Absolutely! And constructive criticism is much appreciated on or off-list goss6@sover.net

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

1. This story is AU. Carlos is ONLY a criminal in this story. Michelle Pfeiffer's character doesn't exist except I used a reference to the fact that Michelle played Catwoman in the first Batman movie and the nickname "Cat" for my OFC Catherine. Mel's ex-wife and son also do not exist in this AU story. If anyone hasn't seen the movie and happens to read this story, just to make it easier for you, the name McKussic is pronounced McKoosic.

2. This story was written on the premise that a person can be truly in love with someone, their heart and mind wanting only to be with that person, BUT, nature or genetics or whatever also has for each person the perfect MATE that was MADE for them (an animal primal instinctual thing). And this person may not be someone they love or even like, but their body and soul will be uncontrollably drawn to that person no matter how much they honestly love the other person.

3. I wrote this story to answers questions the movie didn't get into:

A. WHY would Mel's drug dealer character be best friends with a cop
B. WHY was he in a Mexican prison
C. WHY would he "bind" himself to a major Mexican drug lord while IN prison in a way that his loyalty to the man almost costs him his life later in the movie

Bloody Sunrise
by Max

(HALLOWEEN MORNING - PRESENT DAY)

"I'm telling you, Catherine, Mac said it was a costume party. I think we should go as Batman and Catwoman. They're a real sexy couple, don'tcha think?" Nick wiggled his eyes at her jokingly.

"Fine," his new girlfriend Catherine replied half-seriously, "but how about YOU go as Catwoman and I'll be Batman?" - Cat costume is too darn tight, makes me feel naked even covered! -

"But I was looking forward to pulling your tail later!" he grinned, as she laughed easily along with him.

***********************

Catherine Chase and Nick Frescia, both 22, were in their final year at the LA Police Academy. Catherine had recently transferred from New York City, where she had been living near her mother, to spend time with her father, a very prominent, very rich businessman and up-and-coming politician in Los Angeles.

For Catherine and Nick, it was love at first sight.

It was also FIRST love for them both when she caught Nick staring at her over the top of his computer in one of their classes. She stared back, immediately liking his friendly pale blue eyes and sincere easy smile. He was very cute too, although not down right handsome, she thought, but quite close. And she also really liked his clean shaven face, his light brown hair kept neat and short, and, of course, the nice way he dressed like she did.

As soon as class was over, Nick approached her in the hallway, and being a fairly confident man, he introduced himself. They went into the library together and were pleased to discover that they had many of the same interests; were both conservative Republicans, went to the same church occasionally, listened to the same type of music, read the same books, were 'only' children and worked and studied hard to get good grades.

The only major difference was that Catherine came from a very rich influential family with an exclusive high society class upbringing, whereas Nick was from a regular middle class upbringing in the heart of LA. Nick was hoping for a long prosperous career in law enforcement like his father had had before he died in the line of duty when he was a young child. Catherine wanted a career in law enforcement simply because she had little interest in becoming yet another empty society wife to some boring two-dimensional man in her parent's circle. She wanted her own home, husband and children some day; she just didn't want to give up her soul for it.

Her family had immediately told her that she'd never make it as a cop because of her 'silver spoon' background, but all it did was make Catherine even more determined to prove them wrong and have it ALL one day. - They'd probably die if they saw me talking to a guy whose family has never seen a six-figure income! Well, it's MY life, and if I want to date regular guys, I will! -

She and Nick began dating and quickly became very comfortable hanging out together at their neatly kept apartments near the academy, getting to know each other and falling more and more in love. And feeling this way, blossoming in their newfound romance just days before Halloween, Catherine admitted to Nick that she was still a virgin. Although she wasn't actually waiting until marriage, she told him that she wanted it to be with someone she genuinely cared for and respected and wanted to be sure that the man she was with felt the same way about her. It wasn't a BIG issue with Catherine; it was just an issue she didn't exactly want to take lightly like so many other women she knew did. She wasn't judging anyone by it, but she felt it was something special that she could only give to one man, and she wanted that man to be ... special.

Nick, of course, was very flattered that she trusted him to tell him her feelings and made sure that she didn't feel pressured by him in any way by letting her completely take the lead in intimate matters. He was quite sure they would come together when the time was right. Unfortunately, Nick made the mistake of telling his best friend Mac, who immediately teased him about falling in love with a virgin, a woman he had yet to meet. Nick, as usual, though, took the teasing for what it was ..... Mac's way.

****************************

Nick Frescia and Dale (Mac to his many friends) McKussic had been best friends since kindergarten. Mac's home life in the poorest section of the neighborhood was down right horrific with two drunken physically and mentally abusive parents and him having been the only child for them to take it out on.

Nick was an only child too, and his widowed mother took pity on the extremely withdrawn smaller child she saw sitting alone in the class and immediately encouraged her out-going son to be friendly with him. In time it worked. At first, though, little Dale was mercilessly teased for being so quiet and being the smallest boy in his school. But Nick started coming to his defense right away, and soon it became known in elementary school that if you picked on Mac (by then) McKussic, that you had to answer to Nick Frescia, and vice versa when Mac quickly learned how to give it back even better than he got.

Mac blossomed under their friendship, never having heard kind words until Nick, and in a few years he rivaled Nick in size; no longer a scrawny scared little Dale. He turned into the class clown, a natural at making people laugh with pranks, and made more friends, but he remained loyal only to Nick, who felt the same way about him.

Nick's mother tried her best to let young Mac spend as much time in their home as he could, eating good food with them and enjoying a loving, safe family atmosphere. It would break her heart when his father would show up unexpectedly on a whim, dragging his son away by the ear and literally kicking his ass at home. Social services was tried in a heartfelt effort to help Mac, but nothing was ever proven, and with the system being so flooded, Mac was left to suffer in his two-parent working home.

By the summer the boys turned 17, Mac couldn't take it any more, another whole year ahead of him until legal freedom, and he ran away to the ghetto leaving behind a note for Nick that he would be in contact when he could. Many runaways perish on the street, but Mac was very tough by then, having endured years of beatings and emotional abuse, and he was quickly able to form his own gang by the strength of his will, natural charisma and physical intimidation where needed. The kids under him quickly learned that although Mac was easy-going and charming most of the time, he was also hot-tempered, ruthless and downright mean when necessary to get what he wanted.

Mac also quickly lost his virginity on the street, taking just about any girl who approached him for protection. And, because he was usually gentle while also a bit rough with them at the same time, almost scary, depending on his mood, he became very popular with the girls who found his lightning blue eyes and devilish grin entrancing. It didn't take him long at all to discover how to make women happy and keep them where he wanted them, nearby physically, but far away emotionally.

It wasn't long that summer before Mac got into marijuana; smoking and selling it for the easy money and stress relieving high he so badly needed. If anyone needed the calming influence of pot in his or her system, it was Dale McKussic. He occasionally laid awake at night in the warehouse they 'squatted' in, smoking a joint with a girl on each arm while thinking sorrowfully about leaving his best friend Nick behind.

- Gotta let'm know I'm OK without getting caught. Then, when we're 18, we won't have to worry about that shit anymore .....Can do anything we want! -

Nick was worried sick about Mac and drove his car that he had worked hard to pay for on his own all over the City looking for his friend. In time, he finally heard about Mac's street reputation and was able to track him down to the area Mac worked his prosperous little drug business most often in. Unfortunately, Nick didn't have a clue how to handle himself on the street, and he was soon being chased by a rival gang of Mac's for asking too many questions and mistakenly saying that he was Mac's best friend.

Knowing the area and he didn't, they quickly caught up with him and forced him down to the ground, ready to have some real fun. Chains whipped against him, fists pummeled him and boots kicked him until someone nearby issued a challenge to the gang. "YOU WANNA FIGHT?" Mac shouted, standing at the head of his own gang.

It soon turned into a deadly challenge, as several members on each side were killed, and both gangs broke up to scurry away at the sound of cop sirens approaching. Mac didn't even think of running off for his own safety from the authorities. Nothing would keep him from helping Nick. And with only his friend on his mind, he lifted Nick's broken body and ran down side streets and through alleys to the nearby emergency room, saving Nick's life.

Nick woke the next day in the hospital to see Mac and his mother, neither of them having left. His mother was crying in relief and Mac was struggling hard not to cry, himself, while they both held tight onto Nick's hands from opposite sides of the bed. It didn't take much for Nick to persuade a very guilty feeling Mac to promise to stay off the street. He wanted him to stick out the final months before adulthood and finish high school with him, and Mac agreed, although it meant suffering another nine months of hell. The things he willingly did for Nick, and Nick in return for him; it was that once in a lifetime true to the core kind of friendship.

Even when they found Nick's car the next week, completely trashed, the friendship couldn't be marred. Mac, of course, apologized over and over, but Nick just shrugged it off, refused to blame him and simply started saving his money again for a new car eventually.

Graduation day came, and Nick made Valedictorian while Mac just barely squeaked through with mostly Ds, as he had never found an interest in school other than as a way to escape from his parents. A standard IQ test had been given shortly before graduation to all the seniors, and no one was more surprised than Mac to discover that he had scored at almost the genius level, far above all the students in the large school district.

Everyone had immediately tried to get Mac to apply to college, even with his low grades, but Mac had just laughed at the IQ test score and made plans in his head to expand his drug business. Freedom to do what he wanted was all he cared about. And when he turned 18 shortly after graduation, he got that freedom in the form of nice two-bedroom apartment not far from Nick's house. It was the perfect place, away from his parents and still near the one person he cared about, although nothing tended to stay perfect with Mac for long, and the apartment was soon trashed by extensive partying and Mac's own laziness in housecleaning.

When Nick turned 18 a couple weeks later, Mac threw him a huge birthday bash at the apartment and surprised him with hookers and a brand new car. Nick happily accepted the car, although he was slightly shocked, as he had never realized up until then just how much money Mac made with selling pot and carefully gambling the earnings to double it over and over. Nick had stayed out of that part of Mac's new life, and Mac never pushed him to join him at it, only offering Nick free joints often, which Nick had no problem accepting occasionally, as he was a young man who enjoyed a good smoke too.

Looking at the two hookers, Nick was both excited and scared out of his mind. At 18 he was still a virgin, and with no secrets between them, he knew that Mac knew. Of course, it was the reason they were there to begin with, to take Nick's cherry, and Mac laughingly assured him in private that there was nothing to it and easily gave his best friend the prettier of the two women while he took the other in his own room for himself. It would be years later before Mac would ever again deliberately give up the better woman for someone other than himself.

That night, however, it was all about being wild, young and free, and for the first time in his 18 years, Nick went all out with the party, got both massively drunk and stoned and gratefully allowed a professional to show him the ways of 'love'. By the end of the night, the two men were hanging on each other while they announced to everyone how much they loved each other and how nothing in the world could ever come between them.

Boy, were they wrong.


CHAPTER 3

(PRESENT DAY - HALLOWEEN)

On the way to Mac's dorm, Nick thought again about how great it would be when his best friend finally met the best girlfriend he'd ever had. There had been several regular girlfriends in the past, but they were nothing compared to Catherine, and Nick was sure that Mac that would see her specialness too.
- He's always liked the others, and I didn't talk them up nearly as much as Catherine to him. Would be nice if Mac would finally settle down with a special girl too and we could double on dates. That'd be cool. Anything is possible with Mac. Sure surprised us when he enrolled in college. But I'm sure he only did it on a whim for a change, something new to do. Plus, if I know him, all those college kids for his business were probably a big incentive. Lucky the Dean hasn't caught him yet. -

After knocking on the door of the public room in the dorm where the Halloween party was being held, Catherine and Nick were immediately laughed at by several students. They were the only two wearing costumes. Another set-up by Mac.

All Nick had to do was catch Mac's laughing eyes and huge grin from across the room, and he knew he'd been had. Mac's pulled pranks on Nick all their lives, never having lost the class clown image that he had perfected so well in elementary school as a defense mechanism, and Nick never really minded at all. He laughed easily, not very embarrassed, but he could see that Catherine was not going to take it as well.

Out the room she stormed until he caught up with her in the hallway. "You didn't tell me your best friend was a jerk!" she shouted at him.

"Hey! Make that a CUTE jerk!" Mac laughed loudly and sauntered up to them with the grin still in place.

For Catherine and Mac, it was HATE at first sight.

"Mac, what can I say? Catherine's right, you're a jerk," Nick said, trying for Catherine, but failing, to look serious about it.

"Yeah, well this jerk has beer .... Catch. So Cat," he turned to her next with a friendly smile. "Ya wanna beer too?"

"It's Catherine," she clenched her teeth, taking in his almost too handsome face ruined by several days worth of razor stubble and almost shoulder-length medium-brown shaggy hair. - Doesn't look like he's combed it in a week! Nice blue eyes, though. But Nick's are nicer! -

"Catherine huh?" Mac replied easily while eyeing quite obviously her skintight Catwoman costume. "Looks more like pussy Cat to me." - WOW! Nick sure bagged a hot one this time. Beautiful face too. Looks like a natural blond, not colored like all the babes I date. -

Nick just rolled his eyes. "Catherine, let me introduce you to the bane of my existence, Dale McKussic ... Catherine Chase."

"It's Mac," Mac quickly interjected. He hated his real first name because of his parents, and he knew that Nick knew that too.

Catherine was paying little attention, though. She was in the process of shedding her costume and now showed a tight black leotard top under a pair of tight black jeans, as she huffed to them, "Goodbye Dale. Nick, I'll see you later .. maybe." And with that, she quickly walked up the stairs, swishing her long golden curls behind her back while ignoring the two sets of very male eyes on her ass.

"Shit Mac!" Nick cried as soon as she was out of sight. "Now you got her pissed at ME!" Having been around her the last couple weeks, he knew it was useless to go after her until she had calmed down. It would just cause an argument, and that was the last thing he wanted with her.

"Oh so what!" Mac laughed and pushed him back into the party room. "She obviously doesn't have a sense of humor. Come on, let's party."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With the Batman costume still on, Nick soon became the hit of the party, and it made it easier for him to forget Catherine's anger as he enjoyed the free beer and hung out with Mac and his college friends. Joints were passed around, but that was one thing he turned up along with declining all offers to dance. He was having a good time, although there were now a couple things he was no longer willing to do.

Mac sat quietly mostly, thinking about the sudden change in Nick and not really liking it. Mac didn't like change. His life felt pretty much perfect to him after the childhood he had endured, and he wanted it to stay that way. To that end, he repeatedly offered Nick a smoke, trying to break through, but Nick said little until he finally admitted, "Just trying to stay away from it now. Catherine doesn't like that stuff."

"Since when didja let a girl tell ya what to do?" Mac asked, although he tried to appear casual and not upset at the sinking feeling that was coming to his stomach.

"Since I fell in love, buddy. You should try it some time," Nick easily retorted.

Mac's stomach sunk even further. Nick had never once mentioned girls and love in the same conversation before. - We're only 22 for Christ's sake! - "Me?" he forced a laugh. "Not fucking likely. Got my bitches when I need'em. Good enough." And with just a calculated grin and a curl of his finger, he beckoned to one of them, and the pretty girl immediately jumped from her seat with a proud smile to sit happily on the floor between his legs.

"And I'm sure they just want you for your ..... sparkling personality?" Nick teased, very used to seeing girls respond to Mac in that way.

"Oh yeah, that and my big fat .. joints," Mac joked and handed one down to the girl while he played with her hair.

"Mac," Nick turned suddenly serious. "You have to apologize to Catherine."

"Fuck that!" Mac snorted in disgust. - Apologize? For what? A joke? -

"Come on man. I want you guys to be friends. Never had a problem with my girlfriends before, right?"

- Yeah, - Mac agreed inwardly. - But ya never fell in love before and let THEM lead ya around by the dick. This girl's gonna be a problem. I can feel it already. -

Mac may have been thinking one thing, but for his friend's sake, he said another. "Sure fine. Bring her over tomorrow and I'll play nice." - I'll come up with something to keep from looking foolish. -


CHAPTER 4

Later that night, Nick went to Catherine's apartment, drunk but sweet with apology for Mac's behavior, and eventually convinced her to give Mac another chance. She wanted to stay angry, the man had made her extremely mad with being the butt of his childish joke, but knowing how important it was to her new boyfriend that she got along with his long time friend, she reluctantly agreed to try again with the jerk in the morning.

And a jerk he was ... again.

Opening his dorm door wide to them, the reek of marijuana wafted out, causing Catherine to wrinkle her nose in disapproval at Nick, who quickly pleaded back at her with his eyes not to say anything. Mac barely noticed the exchange and certainly didn't care. Standing in only a towel around his waist, a fat one hanging from his lips, he was casually throwing clothes at the wet naked girl lying on his bed. She looked up at Catherine and Nick with glazed eyes, threw her shirt on and silently left the room when it became obvious that Mac wasn't even going to kiss her goodbye.

Catherine's disdain of the scene turned to horror, though, when Mac let the towel fall to rummage for clothes for himself in the very messy room. She couldn't believe what he was doing, and quickly looked away while the two men went on talking as though nothing had happened.

It was a very big 'nothing' for Catherine, however. She had never seen a man nude other than in pictures, and Mac was being so darned casual about his nakedness that Catherine eventually found her eyes shifting subtly to glance at him sideways. Her mouth even dropped in surprise when she saw just how large the man actually was, much more of him down there than she had expected from his lean build.

Mac, of course, happened to pick that exact moment to look over at her and saw the astonished look on her face, an expression seen many times on women, and he quickly winked at her. It was enough to cause Catherine to turn red with embarrassment and then anger, and she snapped her head away from him, a motion noticed by Nick.

"Hey! Hurry up and get dressed! Not every woman wants to see it," Nick snapped, feeling slightly peeved and a little worried at knowing that he wasn't quite as large as Mac in that area. Nick wasn't particularly worried. He was a good lover and well-endowed, but with everything he'd heard about Mac from women and from Mac, himself, it made him feel slightly insecure at the slight size difference with his girlfriend in the room.

Mac easily laughed in response while he pulled his pants on, still watching Catherine's reaction. If he had known she was thinking, - What a pig! Doesn't even wear underwear! - he would have just laughed louder. Dale McKussick took very little seriously, especially where women were concerned.

Nick was a different matter. Something else had come to his attention, and he couldn't decide whether to laugh or gasp in horror at seeing what Mac had pinned above his bed in obvious taunt of Catherine. He should have known that his best friend couldn't just apologize and leave well enough alone. Mac would always be a jokester 'til the end.

Mac didn't even bother to look up at where Nick was staring. He only wanted to see what the butt of his latest joke was going to do, and he watched her reaction closely. Right above his bed he had gleefully put up a large poster of Michelle Pfieffer as Catwoman from the Batman movie. No skin showed beneath the skin tight costume, but the image was highly erotic featuring large red parted lips, long slim legs standing apart and sleek blond curls peeking out from behind the mask around her face. It was almost frightening at how much Catherine had resembled the movie Catwoman the night before, albeit a younger fresh-faced with longer hair version.

Catherine could've cared less about the resemblance and any flattery it may have held by being above his bed. All she saw was incensed RED that the man was teasing her again. - I can't believe Nick has such an immature friend. But no way he's winning THIS round. - And she looked directly at him, forcing a laugh out although her eyes betrayed her.

They certainly did, and Mac could see it, but it was good enough for him that the woman wasn't about to throw a hissy fit. Standing up, he offered his hand with a sincere smile. "Sorry about yesterday, start over?" He honestly WAS sorry for upsetting his best friend's woman, but that 'sorry' would only ever be given on his terms and accepted the way he wanted, like Catherine had, or it wouldn't be given at all.

Catherine turned her cool eyes down to his outstretched hand, then back up to the smile she could see reaching to his now genial eyes, and decided that this was the type of apparently shallow man not worth getting any more upset about. It was obvious that Nick earnestly wanted them to make up, and Nick WAS a man worth her time, so that hand was taken against her pride, and she gripped it firmly to show him her annoyance at his joke.

It was their first touch, and something happened, something the three of them would never understand but would be forced to accept one day. It was the touch of two souls connecting like they had done in previous lives, although the hearts in this lifetime would take much longer to connect, if at all. One heart was already in love, and the other heart had no love in it to give to anyone but his friend.

Nature this time around had not been kind to these two souls.

In the space of the seconds-lasting handshake, that warmth of nature bonding them together again spread like wild-fire from their hands, and they stared at each other in surprise, seeing that the other felt it too. Before it could travel any further, their hands dropped, and they immediately rubbed them against their legs and looked away to smile at Nick in hopes that he hadn't noticed their sudden anxiety.

Nick was just too happy to see them shaking hands and smiling and didn't notice a thing unusual about their expressions. His arms slipped around both their shoulders, and he offered to buy lunch at the cafeteria. "Sure," Mac rolled his eyes and snorted a light chuckle. "Trying to poison me now with that crap?"

And off to lunch they went, although it was a meal eaten with strained conversation, as Catherine and Mac couldn't find a single thing they agreed on and couldn't quite forget that weird feeling they had experienced when they touched.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Several days passed before Mac decided to see what Nick was up to. He'd come into four tickets to an Ozzy concert that night, and he showed up at Catherine's apartment looking for the only person he really wanted to go with. A shorthaired pretty girl hung on his arm, although she was pretty in the way of someone that would be even prettier if she had been one to dress less sexually open and wear less makeup and jewelry like Catherine did.

Upon seeing Catherine again, Mac barely remembered to introduce the women as he asked for Nick. "Uhhhh, hey Cat," he stammered in confusion at being face to face with a scowl that he suddenly wanted to kiss away to bring a smile in its place. "This is Annie. Nick around? Ozzy's in town, and I got four tickets for us."

"Sure, Dale," she did try to smile, as she looked the girl over. "I don't think we have any plans tonight. Nice to meet you, Annie." Catherine was trying hard to remain polite. It annoyed her that he hadn't called first, and she wasn't a fan of heavy metal music. Actually, she was only a fan of classical and opera and had thought Nick felt that same way until she had discovered over lunch with him and Mac that Nick enjoyed a wider variety of music than she did.

At first it had been a slight disappointment that the man also liked what she considered to be trash, but she had quickly gotten over it when he assured her that he would happily take her to every classical concert and opera in the area for both her enjoyment and his own. It was an assurement she intended to hold him too. Nick Frescia was turning out to be the best boyfriend Catherine had ever had.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nick quickly dressed down from the nice clothes he usually wore, clothes that often matched Catherine's, to attire that was very similar to Mac's. Mac, as usual, was wearing torn jeans, t-shirt with a rude saying and dirty sneakers. He may have made a lot of money, but he wasn't one to dress like it. The only concession he had made to going out that night was a new black leather jacket, which he proudly showed off to Nick.

"What do ya think, Nick? he grinned; looking down at himself while he spread his arms wide and turned in a circle. "Make me look like a big ole tough bastard?"

"Mac, you couldn't BE any tougher," Nick laughed, as Catherine turned away in exasperation.

"If you'll excuse me," she tried hard not to let contempt enter her voice at the sight of the men and Annie fawning over leather. "I'll change now too."

And ten minutes later she was back in a nice pair of jeans, plain t-shirt and bright sneakers. Nick had left the living room to make a snack, and Mac and Annie were making out on the couch. Mac's hand was riding high up and under the girl's black mini, cupping her bare bottom, and his other hand was laying casually around her back with neither person even thinking about being discreet in someone else's home.

Catherine wasn't sure what shocked her more. The way they groped each other so easily without even looking up to see if anyone was around, or the sudden flash of the tongue ring she saw shimmering around the outside of Mac's lips, as Annie licked at them hungrily. It made her disgusted, angry, and strangely .... ill. She wanted them to stop.

Sensing her fury, Mac looked up, and his mouth stopped moving, purposely ignoring the dark emotions on her face to check out her new appearance. - Looks almost normal now, not so Barbie-doll preppy .... and sneakers? Surprised she owns a pair. Definitely like her hair better like that too. - Catherine's long hair, usually worn clipped neatly behind her back, had been let loose to cascade in waves around her face and shoulders.

"WOW Honey," Nick said, as he walked back into the room. "You should wear your hair like that more often."

Anger dissipated and Catherine smiled at him appreciatively until she noticed the same look on Mac's face. The man had completely separated himself from Annie to openly gawk at Catherine. "It gets in my way," she snapped and pulled it back into the clip. "Don't know how you can stand it long, Dale."

Mac blinked, his daze broken. "Girls like it long, right Annie?"

A 'yes' was giggled back at him, and Mac grinned, as Annie ran her hand through the long waves on the back of his head and neck. His thick mane of hair was often quite unruly, but it was always clean, soft and luxurious to a woman's touch, and Mac was well aware of the effect it had on women who wanted to pamper him. It was an effect almost as strong as his dazzling smile, intense eyes and well-practiced skill in bed.

"Well I don't," Catherine replied haughtily and grabbed Nick's hand, thankful that her boyfriend was nice-looking in the classic way a man was SUPPOSED to be, not like some weird rock singer or over-blown movie actor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Arriving at the concert after listening to Mac and Annie make out the whole time in the back seat of Mac's Porsche, Catherine was determined to salvage the evening. After all, she knew how to relax too, although certainly not as much as Annie, and she soon enjoyed the show for what it was, entertainment, and laughed along with the rest of them at the special effects and antics on stage.

By the time the band took their first break, she was beginning to feel grateful they had come, and she and Nick headed outside for air. "Oh my God!" she suddenly gasped, thinking she had inhaled too much marijuana smoke in the stadium. "That's Dale over there! He SELLS the stuff too?"

- Shit! - Nick thought, as he nodded in confirmation, regretting now that he hadn't just come out and told her himself.

"He's going to end up in prison some day," she stated what to her was undeniable. "You do know that, don't you?"

"It's just pot, Catherine," Nick shrugged weakly. "Mac stays away from the other stuff. He knows what he's doing. He'll be fine." - Yeah, he will be. Mac's smart, always stays on top and wins. Besides, pot dealers just get slapped on the wrist. Nothing to worry about. -

Boy, was he wrong ... again.

"We're practically cops, Nick," her head shook in disbelief at his blasé attitude. "We're supposed to just LET him do it?" - I can't believe my boyfriend's best friend is a drug dealer! Just another reason not to like the man! -

"Yes," Nick answered very firmly, as his baby blues flashed angrily at her for the first time. Nick was quite willing to defend Mac for just about anything. Mac certainly had his faults, but he was a good man inside, the best friend a person could have, and Nick would never forget how he had saved his life.

Catherine didn't like that look, but she didn't feel like arguing out in the open. Nick would hear more about it when they were alone. She wasn't about to let something as revolting as drug dealing become a part of her life, even by association. "I'm going to the ladies room."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Annie stood at the sink, checking her makeup, and the two women nodded in just the slightest of greeting to each other, as Catherine walked up beside her to peer at her own reflection and comb out her hair from the clip. She was upset again, although not sure at who more, Nick or Mac, and it showed in how she ran that comb harshly through her hair, muttering to herself.

"You're not Mac's type," Annie suddenly blurted.

"Excuse me?" Catherine said, not believing she could have possibly heard the girl right.

"Mac. He thinks you're a stuck up bitch. All he talked about on the ride over to your place."

"Oh he does?" Catherine sneered. "Well, I think he's a dirtbag who obviously needs to grow up and let go of his friend before he drags him down with him."
Annie didn't even deny it. She just looked at Catherine very slowly up and down and reiterated her first statement. "Like I said, you're not his type. Stick with Frescia."

"Believe me, I plan to," Catherine laughed and walked out, completely forgetting her hair clip on the sink.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What's going on? - A huge commotion was taking place in and around the stadium. Cops were everywhere trying to herd people into cars, sirens were going off, and bullhorns were being used to control the crowd. Nick and Mac were nowhere in sight, and Catherine was all alone about to be trampled by scared concertgoers who were trying to get away from the cops.

It was suffocating. People were smashing her up against a wall in their frenzy, and she was struggling not to pass out and fall when out of the throng of bodies she felt a strong set of arms wrap around her stomach, rescuing her from serious harm. By that point, Catherine was too frightened to resist and gratefully allowed the person to pull her up against their body and protect her, as that person then pushed them both into a calmer spot.

Once in that calmer spot, she paused for a moment, feeling very comfortable in the arms holding her while also feeling sure that it could only have been one person who would have come to her rescue. The strong arms dropped as soon as the person was sure they were temporarily safe, and when Catherine turned around and smiled up at the blue eyes staring down at her, her rescuer gave her his dazzling smile in return.


CHAPTER 5

"Dale, th .. thank you," she stammered quietly in surprise, pulling her eyes from those eyes and lips.

"Sure Cat. Almost didn't recognize ya with your hair down, though."

"It's Catherine," she immediately caught her breath again, back in control.

"And it's Mac," he smiled, reaching out to touch her golden locks. "But ya really look like a Cat to me."

"Stop it!" she hissed, taking a step back.

"Stop what?" His arm fell and the smile vanished. "I didn't do anything but save your ass."

"Look Dale, if this is some kind of macho game between you and Nick .."

"What the fuck?" he shouted and stepped into her face.

"You know what I mean." She stood her ground, refusing to be intimidated. "You hit on his girlfriends; he hits on your girlfriends. Well, I don't want ANY part of it!"

"Yeah right," his lip curled in sneering amusement. "Ya WISH I were hitting on ya!"

SLAP! Seriously insulted, she cracked him hard across the face, and, without hesitation, Mac started to raise his own hand in response to being struck, something that's happened to this man far too many times in his life.

"Dale!" she cried, only noticing the crowd suddenly surging towards them. He looked over, intending to cover her body with his own again, but they were separated too swiftly, and before they knew it, cops had them corralled into vans with others. Nick and Annie were still missing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The whole group of them, men and women, were thrown into a large holding room for the night while the police tried to determine just who was doing the selling and buying at the concert. Luckily for Mac, his first time in front of the police, enough of the people, purchasers or not, knew and liked him, so his name was never turned in as the dealer.

Catherine, completely furious at Mac for being the cause of it all, sat as far from him as she could on the opposite side of the room while praying to herself that her father wouldn't find out. - Almost a cop and here I am in jail! All because of that loser! Wait 'til I see Nick! Dale is sooooo lucky I care about Nick or I'd turn him in right now! I have HAD it! -

With a long night still ahead of them many people began to drift off to sleep by lying on the floor or sitting up against the wall like Catherine. "Whaaa huhhh?" she cried after only sleeping for a few minutes.

A hand was in her hair, and that hand belonged to a very large stoned man who was staring at her through bleary eyes. "Pretty ..," he droned.

Her own eyes went wide with fright, but before her police training could kick in, Mac crossed the room in a blink of an eye, lifted the larger man from the floor and pinned him by the neck with both hands to the wall. "Don't fucking touch her," he snarled up into the man's face, as his hands began to squeeze the life out of him.

"ACK!" the man choked out, turning red while his hands fumbled at his sides.

Seeing that the man wasn't going to resist, Mac let up on the pressure just enough for him to gasp desperately, "Sorry Mac. Didn't know she was one of yours."

He could have corrected him, but why bother, especially when being in a situation where having Catherine unquestionably under his protection made sense to Mac. Besides, the phrase 'one of yours' had a delightful ring to it that Mac liked, even if he had no intention whatsoever of making the phrase come true.

The ring left a very different flavor in Catherine's mind, and she immediately opened her mouth to protest being insulted in that kind of ridiculous chauvinistic way. "Hey ...," was all she got out before Mac swung his eyes on her so fiercely that it was enough to make her change her mind and look away. Catherine had never seen a man look at her like that before, and it sent a tremor of fear right down her spine.

As soon as the man was dropped to the floor to scramble away, Mac slid down the wall to sit beside Catherine. If he was going to protect her from further molestation while in jail, he may as well stay near her as a physical reminder to others who also found her beauty to be a tempting midnight snack. "You're welcome .. again," he sighed after a few minutes of silence.

"I didn't ASK for your help," she spit back and moved a little to put more space between them. "I could've handled him."

"Yeah maybe," he nodded in agreement. "But what kind of friend would I be to Nick," and he turned away from her, "if I didn't protect his woman?"

"After tonight, Dale," she sighed, studying his scruffy profile, "I hope Nick decides you're the kind of friend he can live without now."

"Fucking ungrateful bitch." His head whipped back around, eyes flaring on her. "Ya can't break us up."

"Do you ALWAYS have to swear?" she asked, holding those eyes this time. - At least Nick has the decency to keep it down around me! -

"Fuck yes. If ya don't like it, go back to Martha Stewart Land where ya came from. Nick needs a REAL woman, not a cold bitch."

"Oh, I suppose you think Nick likes little tramps like Annie?"

"Annie is NOT a tramp .... Well .. yeah, maybe, but she's cool. Has her uses."

"Uses? I BET she does. And maybe YOU like those kind of USES, Dale McKussic, but Nick isn't like that."

Yup, Catherine may have been a smart woman, but she was pretty naïve when it came to men.

"Nick? Not like that?" Mac snorted in amazed laughter. "Just 'cuz he's playing all 'I love you so I can wait 'til you let me in those pearly virgin gates' doesn't mean Nick isn't going insane wanting to fuck around like all guys do. I'm surprised he's lasted THIS long waiting for you to grow up."

"Oh My God," she cried, totally mortified. "He TOLD you?"

"Of course, ya stupid bitch. We tell each other everything. Had a good laugh over it when I finally realized he wasn't pulling my leg."

For a moment her face trembled, and Mac thought for sure she was going to start crying. She didn't, but watching her struggle to hold it back brought feelings of little known regret to Mac, and he silently berated himself for going too far in hurting her back. - But I can't let her break us up! Not gonna lose my best friend over a piece of stuck up tight ass! -

An hour of silence later, and they both had been sleeping upright against the wall until Catherine woke shivering with a chill. She was rubbing her arms, wondering if she should ask the guard for a blanket when Mac awoke, saw her discomfort, and, without a word, took his brand new leather jacket off and tossed it into her lap. - Just 'cuz if she goes and catches a fucking cold, it'll be another point in her favor with Nick, - he convinced himself was the only reason for thinking of her comfort over his own.

Catherine wanted to toss the jacket back at him, still quite angry, but she was simply too tired to argue and silently put the object of her earlier scorn on to fall back to sleep warm and subliminally content within the scent-embrace of the man her body unconsciously responded to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Come morning, the door opened and the occupants were roused from their sleep. Catherine and Mac were both startled at the position they found themselves in. Her head had dropped in sleep to rest against his shoulder, and his head had been leaning comfortably on top of hers. It had felt right, and neither had woken again to put space between them. Right or not to their bodies, their minds were not happy, and they quickly pulled away from each other, never spoke a word as they were released with no charges and exited the building as fast as they could with the others.

"Catherine! Mac!" Nick called from across the street to them. - Wonder why she's wearing Mac's jacket? -

They both waved back to him, and Catherine, not having forgotten how humiliated she felt with the 'virgin' and 'stupid bitch' comments, said very quietly to Mac before crossing the street to Nick, "Someday, Dale, I'm going to bust you."

Mac just stood and watched silently as Nick swept her up in his arms, completely forgetting that she was still wearing his jacket. - Bust me someday? Yeah sure. Like to see you try. I'll catch up with Nick later. Where the hell is Annie? Didn't even come down for me like Nick did for Cat. -

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at his dorm room, he discovered why. Annie was stoned out of her mind, lounging in his bed while she waited for him. "You bitch!" he shouted, as he threw two dresser drawers around the room. "You smoked all my personal stash!"

"Hey, Baby," she purred. "I couldn't help it. Don't worry. Come here and I'll make it up to ya."

"Damn right you will," he growled, pulled his shirt off and stepped close to the bed. He was pissed off, not just because of his empty drawers, but for some deep buried feeling he couldn't put his finger on, and Annie was going to be made to take the brunt of it, although in a way honestly enjoyed by both. Mac may have had a hair-trigger temper, but he had never yet lost control enough to truly harm a woman in bed. A fact he would not be able to claim as true in the coming weeks.

Annie jumped up eagerly at the look on his face and yanked his jeans off for him before pulling him down on top of her. For a few minutes Mac's mind went blank as he humped her, no longer thinking about business or cold bitches until with a roll of the warm body to lie on top of him, everything changed. He glanced up and saw it. The Catwoman poster was still above his bed, the poster that he'd told himself he was too busy to take down.

A grunt of anger erupted from him, and he pushed Annie off his dick to jump up and rip the poster down. With another grunt it flew across the room to land behind his desk, and Mac stared back down at the naked woman sitting at his feet, subconsciously comparing her to what his body really wanted.

Annie, knowing the joke behind the poster, started to pout, suspecting why Mac was acting strangely. Mac could've cared less. He won't play games with her. "Either lay down or get the hell out," he snapped, still standing on his bed.

She hesitated too long, trying to decide just how far she could push him, and Mac blew his top, jumped off the bed, threw her clothes at her, and pushed her naked out the door. He did it all without actually saying a word. "Mac! Please! I'm sorry!" she started crying from the hallway.

But it was too late. "Fuck off Annie! I'm not coddling you or any bitch! Come back when you're over it!" And the door was slammed on her teary face.

Annie wiped her tears, realizing she had stupidly lost her chance for fun that day with the best lover she'd ever had, and stomped down the hallway to one of his friend's rooms. Only a minute later the guy she went to knocked on Mac's door. "Hey Mac," he called through the door. "Annie climbed into my bed. You cool with it?"

He still had a raging boner, but he was cool. "Yeah sure. Take her if ya want .. for now. Got other things on my mind." And once he heard the man retreat down the hallway, he grabbed a towel and ran to the dorm shower, a very cold shower.

Soon Mac felt marginally better, at least the boner was gone, and he fell asleep in bed, alone for once and dreamed the strangest dream of his life. Black and gold colored cats were climbing all over him. Mac didn't even really like cats. He didn't like much of anything besides pot, women and Nick, but in his dream he was perfectly happy as the cats purred loudly and pushed their furry little faces around his naked body while he stroked their fur and talked lovingly to them.

Mac had never talked lovingly to anyone or anything in his life, and with that one dream, he became a cat lover and soon started anonymously donating money to the local animal shelter. It certainly wouldn't do for his rep if people were to find out he had suddenly developed a soft spot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When he woke later that day, the boner was back, and he automatically grabbed it with one hand while the other hand stretched out behind his head in a comfortable position for self-pleasuring. With a long yawn and a loud satisfying expelling of gas, he began stroking it slowly at first, trying to concentrate on images of Annie's short bleached blond hair bobbing up and down over it.

It wasn't enough.

Stroking it harder and faster, desperately focusing on the feel of Annie's breasts beneath his fingers, her pierced tongue on his, it happened, the poster of Catwoman slid the rest of the way behind the desk to land on the floor open and in plain view from where he was laying on the bed.

"AHHHHH!" he groaned loudly, finally cumming all over himself, as he stared in disbelief at the poster hidden under the desk. "Shit!" he grunted angrily next after his breath was back to normal. Some 'not-very-best-friend-like' images had pushed him over the edge, and Mac suspected it wasn't going to be the first time, as he reached for a tissue to clean up the mess on his stomach.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as Nick and Catherine finished embracing on the sidewalk outside of the police station, he told her how he had not been able to find her at the concert. "Annie and I just barely managed to escape the raid. We figured you two must have been picked up. We looked everywhere. God, I was worried Catherine, but I knew Mac would take care of you for me."

"I don't NEED a man to take care of me, Nick," she protested, although the memory of Mac saving her from being crushed during the raid and then molested in the cell lingered heavily in her mind.

"I'm sorry, Catherine," he smiled apologetically and kissed her quickly. "You know what I mean. I was just worried."

"Well," she shrugged. "You wouldn't HAVE to be worried if we didn't have to hang around with Dale and his drug business."

Nick froze. He knew it had been coming. "Please don't tell me you're asking me to choose between you and Mac," he said very quietly.

"Do you love me Nick?" she asked just as quietly, as she held his eyes wanting to see the truth in his soul.

"Very much," he answered immediately. "But I love Mac too." - Please understand! - he screamed inwardly.

Catherine didn't understand and she didn't want to, not when it involved a cruel jerk that was also a drug dealer. "Fine ... then be with him," she sighed painfully and turned to walk away, ready to forget Nick Frescia and her now aching heart. She loved him very much, but she would have moved on with her life if Nick hadn't come up with a solution to keep them together.

"Wait! Catherine! Please!" he cried and grabbed her arm. "Move in with me. I don't want to lose you!"

"Oh my God, Nick, I wasn't trying to .."

"I know you weren't, Catherine," he interrupted, knowing she had truly been ready to leave and wasn't playing a game. "And I want you to know I'm not asking for .... you know ..THAT .... Not until you're ready. But your apartment has two bedrooms. I could move into one today . if you want me."

"Oh Nick, I DO want you . completely. But if we're going to do this, we're doing it right .... sharing a room," she smiled up at his beaming face. "Starting tonight." - My parents will flip, but oh well, they should be used to it from me by now. -

"Tonight?" his eyes widened, thinking about it. "You sure?"

"Yes I am, and you can tell Dale that I took his advice and grew up."

"Oh shi .. shoot, I'm sorry, Honey. I'm just so used to telling Mac everything. I can't believe he said anything, though."

"Well, I'm not surprised. The guy has no sense of decency." - Well, maybe a little, - she thought, looking down at the jacket on her.

"I swear I'll try to be more careful what I say to him." Nick's smile was a mile long. "This is gonna be great, Catherine!"

Sure, if you considered great to be a nightmare of pain and betrayal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of their day was spent moving his stuff into hers, and they soon planned to turn the extra bedroom into a spare room in case a friend needed to crash there. - Like Mac, - Nick thought to himself, knowing that Mac was bound to get himself kicked out of the dorm sooner or later.

Hours later, enjoying a romantic dinner in their kitchen, they heard a knock on the door. Mac was standing on the front step with a very hopeful look on his face. "Hey buddy, can I crash at your place tonight? The Dean is on my case with cops raiding all the rooms over there. Don't even have my wallet on me for a motel room. They had me moving so fucking fast I was lucky to get out in time."

"Jesus Mac," he whispered so Catherine wouldn't hear from the living room. She had walked away as soon as she saw who it was. "You picked the wrong fucking night. I just moved out today. My place is locked up. Don't even have the keys anymore."

"So?" Mac shrugged. "Where ya staying now? I'll go there."

"Mac ., " Nick took a deep breath. "I'm living HERE now .. with Catherine." - If he says one wrong word, I'll smack him. -

Mac knew better than to insult his friend openly on his choice to live with a woman and leash himself even further to her. Instead, he coughed derisively. "I see," and the smirk started. "Guess that means you're finally IN, huh?"

"Well," Nick resisted the temptation to laugh at the smirk. "I'm about to be if you get your ass off our porch so we can get started."

"Awww come on, Nick. Just let me crash on the couch. I won't get in the way. And ya know," he chuckled, "that way if ya need some pointers since you've been on a dry spell for so long, I'll be right there to help ya out, buddy."

- That's IT! - Nick laughed and smacked Mac lightly upside the head.

"What's going on?" Catherine came to the door at the sound of the men laughing together.

"Nothing Honey." The laughter immediately stopped. "Mac was just leaving," he explained, as he frantically stuffed cash into Mac's hand. "Here's some money for a room. See you later."

"Thanks man. It's just for the night. I'll get back in my room tomorrow. Have fun you two." And he stepped off the porch, winking at them in an obvious way with a big grin. Mac had no intention of ruining their first night as a live-in couple.

Unfortunately, Nature had it's own intentions. Mac and Catherine had mated many times in their previous lives. They were an established match in the eyes of pro-creation, and it would see that they mated again, no matter how hard the two re-born souls struggled against it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thirty minutes later, a knock sounded on the door again. Catherine had already changed into a long t-shirt and short robe, and she didn't hesitate to answer it this time with Nick. "Now what?" they both said in exasperation at seeing Mac on their porch.

"The Shriners are in town. Can't get a room within a hundred miles tonight," he answered, as he tried very subtly to look around Nick at Catherine's half-dressed appearance. It had been one thing to stare openly when he first met her in the skin-tight Catwoman costume and then again when she surprised him by dressing down and letting her hair out for the concert, but it was an entirely other thing to deliberately piss Nick off by staring at his woman when he was in need of a favor.

"So what do you expect ME to do about it?" Nick replied, getting pissed anyways from the horny state he was in.

Mac just nodded over at the couch behind him. The answer was pretty simple to him.

"Let him in," Catherine sighed at spotting Mac's leather jacket hanging from the coat rack. Her arms went up in defeat. "Spare room isn't ready, but he can sleep on the couch for ONE night."

Nick groaned, Mac grinned and Catherine Chase unwittingly crossed over to the dark side.


CHAPTER 6

With Mac spending the night, Nick sighed and turned the TV on so they could sit and drink together in the living room. It wasn't long before his spirit came back, as hanging out with Mac tended to do that to him. Before he knew it he was sucked right into a drinking competition, and he found himself laughing and talking while he guzzled beer after beer trying to outdrink his friend.

Catherine watched it all silently, alone and frustrated in a chair across the room while doing her own brand of drinking. Glasses of expensive white wine flowed down her throat, many more than usual, until she reached the point of relaxation where she didn't even realize that her robe had fallen open at her legs. The men, of course, noticed immediately. They kept talking, but both began to respond to a very specific scent rolling off her, reaching across the room, and their heads noticeably cocked, trying to catch a peek at what was hiding under her t-shirt.

SMACK! Nick laughingly whacked Mac' head with his open palm at seeing where Mac was looking too.

Mac easily took it and grinned. "She's YOUR girlfriend. Make her put some panties on."

"Yeah that's right!" he laughed back. "She's MY girlfriend. So stop looking!"

Mac no longer cared about being subtle. He was drunk and it was right in front of him, practically calling to him, it seemed, which, actually, it was. - Nothing wrong with looking, right? - "Sorry bro, that's like telling a bear not to zoom into the honey pot if it's out on display."

Nick may have laughed for a moment in agreement, but he suddenly turned uite serious. "We've never dipped in each other's pots before. I don't want it to start now."

"Course not!" Mac practically choked on his beer. "Practically brothers! Wouldn't do that to ya. But hell, you can have Annie anytime ya want." Mac was serious. Annie meant little to him except for as an easy lay with a girl he'd become comfortable with using most often. He had no interest of being more than physical with her, and he had made sure from the start that Annie knew that.

"No thanks," Nick shook his head lightly. "Got all I want here. Annie's nice but not really my type."

"And Cat sure as hell ain't MY type," Mac added. - She just happens to pump me up more than anyone I've ever met. -

"Good," Nick nodded and gulped down another beer. As far as he was concerned, that was the end of it. He had brought it up right in the open, Mac had assured him that his worry was unfounded, and there was no reason to feel he would ever have to think otherwise again.

Total trust and love of his best friend and girlfriend. Shame that it would bite him in the ass.

During that entire conversation Catherine had dozed on and off in the chair, not hearing a word, and another hour went by before Nick woke her so they could all go to bed. She staggered with him to the linen closet, found the sheets, blankets and a pillow for Mac, and then watched open-mouthed as Mac slipped out of all his clothes in front of them, slid into the blankets and proceeded to giggle and bounce up and down on the couch.

As usual, Nick was used to Mac acting like a fool when drunk and waved goodnight, as he wrapped an arm around Catherine's waist to lead her to their bedroom. It was a motion that sobered Mac for a moment. A strange feeling he'd never felt before punched like a freight train into his stomach, and he suddenly felt extremely queasy. - Too much beer, - he tried to convince himself, as he rolled over and pushed his face into the pillow in frustration.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alone at last, Nick used all his self-control to only kiss Catherine lightly while he gently lowered her onto what was now 'their' bed. Although drunk and tired, she easily kissed him back, pushing aside a nagging feeling of hesitation as though something were trying to tell her to stop before it was too late. - I love him, - she argued with that hesitation prickling at her. - He loves me. There's no reason not to. -

Yes .. there was, but Catherine ignored it and plowed right into holding onto that honest love she felt for Nick. Her arms tightened around his neck, and, encouraged, Nick spread himself on top of her, groaning softly in an effort to be as gentle as he could for her first time. He wanted it to be perfect as much as she did.

Unfortunately, in his desire for that perfection, he went much too slow, and before he even had her shirt off, Catherine was sound asleep. - Shit! What do I do? Keep going and hope she wakes up? I bet Mac would do that if it happened to him. Maybe I should try to wake her up. Shit shit shit! -

"Catherine," he tried with a mild shake of her shoulders.

"Mmmmm .....Da..," she mumbled and rolled over onto her side away from him, her eyes not even opening.

- Damn. I give up. No hurry. Going to be here a looooong time, I hope. - And with a sigh of resignation, he grabbed a blanket, pulled it over them both and curled up behind her back to fall fast asleep too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Only a half hour later, Nature struck.

Shivering, Catherine woke, saw Nick sleeping peacefully next to her and smiled happily. - I'll make it up to him tomorrow. No hurry now that we're living together. - The moment she stood up to retrieve another blanket, however, the smile left her face as the wine hit her again. Staggering out of the bedroom towards the kitchen for a drink of ice water, her thoughts only on clearing her head, Catherine completely forgot that Mac was spending the night.

The living room was dark, and down she went, tripping over something large on the floor and landing right on top of it. "What the?" Mac shouted, as he instantly twisted and pinned the person beneath him. He had fallen off the couch with all the bedding in a fitful sleep, passed out on the floor and woken immediately at the feel of something heavy on him, assuming naturally that he was in danger.

Catherine was lucky he hadn't just started punching her. But the moment he had felt his bare body pressing on her only t-shirted one, smelled her face only inches from his, he knew he wasn't being attacked, although he knew he was in trouble.

He wanted to say something rude about her stepping on him, and she wanted to say something rude about him being in the middle of the floor, but neither said a word, all they did was giggle, the alcohol in their systems relaxing them all over again. Giggling was fun, even more fun when their hips began to grind instinctively against each other, and before they knew it, intense heat flooded through them both, bringing dampness to Catherine and semen seepage from Mac's erection that was pressed onto her bare thigh.

"Mmmmm .... Dale," she murmured, as she looked up at him in a drunken sleepy haze. It was a good thing it was dark, for if Catherine had seen what was in his eyes, raw hunger of an intensity unlike any ever fixed upon her by a man in her entire life, the still innocent woman probably would have shrieked in fear.

Intensity or not, Mac still had his senses about him ... barely. "Oh shit! What am I doing?" he gasped and did the hardest thing of his life. He rolled off a woman his body screamed for to lay on his back and panted loudly in agony. Mac was determined to do what was right.

Catherine, however, normally a very light drinker, was too far gone to have any senses left and fell back in a deep sleep, rolling onto her side to snuggle up closely against him. It was torture for Mac. Her arms were clutching him tightly, instinctively knowing where she belonged, and he couldn't get them off. - I COULD get her off me, but if I scare her like that by using real force, she might forget where she is and start yelling for help. Christ, if Nick comes in and sees this ... Not a good idea. Let her sleep. In a few hours I'll try to wake her up again. Get her outta here before morning. No harm done. - And with that admirable although foolish decision made, another beer from the floor was guzzled, hoping he could pass out again rather than suffer awake with the worse hard-on of his life.

Even with the best of intentions, Mac was only a man. His desperate arousal woke him again soon, and he found himself holding onto a warm body, his drunken mind thinking that it had to be Annie. He moved slowly, eyes closed in half-sleep to nuzzle his face between the ravishing soft breasts, only the thin t-shirt keeping him from making skin-to-skin contact.

A murmur escaped her lips, although slumber still held her, and it was enough for Mac to know that the warm body was willing. Down further he moved, opening her legs, as he immediately honed in on the heated desire his primal subconscious had targeted earlier as HIS when he had first scented her from across the room.

- NOT ANNIE! - his mind suddenly screamed, coming fully awake after a deep breath was taken in.

Shocked, his head was about to pull back, seeing the very blond hair on her crotch in the moonlight, when he found himself forcibly pushed back in, right up against the hot damp folds. Catherine had convinced herself that she was not cheating, only dreaming; dreaming of the very rude and exasperating yet exciting Dale.

Nature won, temporarily.

Mac couldn't fight it anymore. He honestly had done his best. He really had tried to get away when he realized his mistake, but being even closer to her this time, feeling her core burning directly onto his face, it was too much to expect this man to handle, and he gave up the fight. With that conscious release of surrender, something was set free in Mac, and he buried deep into Catherine, knowing instinctively that HE belonged there, not Nick, and it wasn't his fault at all at what nature had done to them.

His tongue and lips moved quickly and expertly, delving into her, nipping and sucking with everything he had to give until Catherine began to cry softly and bucked against him, as her hands entwined firmly into that long hair of his that she hated. One of his hands moved around her ripe virgin clit, working it between his finger and thumb in time to his devouring mouth, as his other hand reached up under the t-shirt to caress and lightly pinch at her breasts.

Moans started coming louder and faster from her, and he could feel her hands tightening even more in his hair, a sensation he usually found annoying, but, strangely, this time did not. Mac knew she was about to cum, that what he usually did automatically for women was now being done with a tremendous desire to please a specific one, and he didn't understand the reason behind it or even want to at the moment, he only knew that he couldn't stop until it happened. Catherine Chase needed to be marked and pleasured, and Dale McKussic was the man Nature intended for the job.

"Dale!" she gasped loudly, thrashing violently in the throes of her first orgasm with a man.

It was almost as though she were the one doing the marking. Warm sweet liquid filled his eager mouth, as her muscles clenched and unclenched around his tongue, covering his entire face while her thighs spasmed uncontrollably against his razor stubbled cheeks. Catherine couldn't believe how incredible it felt, and neither could Mac. For once he didn't feel like gagging on something he didn't particularly like to do but often found himself doing. Up until now, it had always been done simply as a way to make women happy and compliant, but this time he just couldn't get enough of it. Mac was 'home' being washed and fed in a womanly essence that tasted like nectar to him, and for the first time in his sexual-life, he didn't want it to stop.

All good things come to an end, though, especially stolen pleasure, and when Mac was certain Catherine was totally relaxed again, every delicious drop milked from her body into his own, he carefully climbed up to look down at her beautiful serene face. Feeling his warm breath on her cheeks, she smiled dreamily up at him, eyes still closed, as her hands reached down to touch his groin, a place she hadn't yet even gone on Nick.

It brought loud groans from Mac at the feel of her soft hands exploring him. For the first time in years he had to fight back the urge to climax in this way while Catherine took her time. Very slowly she ran her fingers over the prickly-haired tightened scrotum, the velvety hardness of the vein-mapped length and last but not least, over the soft smoothness of the large silky tip, seeping once again from the wide slit her fingers then found and gently probed into.

When her exploration of the uncharted territory ended, her fingers satisfied with what they felt, her hips moved upwards, searching for what her body had just approved, looking now for what it needed. Mac had passed inspection by the nature-driven force within Catherine's subconscious, and now he would be rewarded with a mating.

She didn't have to wait long. Once her hands moved away from his groin and her hips ground up at him, Mac plunged right in. He was no longer even capable of thinking in his own frantic animal-need of something he ALWAYS thought of first to protect himself before sex. He was only thinking one thing .. claim, claim, claim. And it would have been a perfect claiming, except for two things. Catherine, swimming in alcohol and in love with another man, thought she was dreaming, and Mac, knowing she had gone to bed earlier with that other man, was under the assumption that she had already had sex, that she was no longer a virgin.

Her eyes flew open in shock and pain, seeing the reality of Mac above her, and he realized just then at the anguished expression on her face that he had broken through her hymen in one deep thrust, something that was almost enough to make him cry out loud in sympathy. Breaking hymens was something Mac had done many times, but never once in such a way, as he was a man who had always been one to pride himself on being extra gentle when taking a woman for her first time, whether she had come right out and told him it was or he had been able to tell for himself by her hesitant actions. Being remembered as the man who took their cherries with little or no pain and then spent hours giving back to them multiple orgasms in return, was something that Mac thoroughly enjoyed being known for, and he felt it was a very reasonable trade.

All Catherine knew was that she was in pain, and she wanted Nick to save her. Her mouth opened to scream for him, in absolute terror of the situation she was in, when Mac clamped his hand over it and whispered desperately in her ear, "Don't scream! It'll kill him! I'm sorry Cat! Thought you already did it!"

Her head shook in denial, and she tried to push him off, but it was too late. Mac was within the only woman his body would ever truly want again, and while she bucked beneath him, he rode her, keeping one hand on her mouth and the other above her head, pinning her wrists together. Catherine had offered herself to him; he knew she really wanted him, and knowing he was in the middle of taking first what no man would ever be able to take from her again, completely did him in. Mac couldn't have stopped if their lives had depended on it.

"Oh my god, Cat!" he cried and attacked her mouth, as hot cum gushed into her virgin passage, filling her. Mac couldn't remember sex ever feeling like this before. He was almost beginning to wonder if he were in the middle of the most erotic dream of his life, as no woman had ever come even close to making him want to cry tears of pleasure from the fire-like sensations that were racing through every nerve of his body.

Catherine's nerves were on fire too. With his lips pressing for entrance on hers as he rode wave after wave of orgasm, she opened her mouth to lose herself into kissing him wildly, the physical pain he had caused her already a fleeting memory. Once again, she couldn't believe how good he felt. Sex was amazing, and her hips automatically pushed up while her legs wrapped tight around his ass, urgently trying to squeeze out every drop of his life-force into her. Catherine Chase hated Dale McKussic, but her body needed him, and she couldn't stop anymore than he could now.

Feeling her respond to him again, Mac released her wrists, and her arms flew around his back to hold onto him for dear life while another orgasm crashed through her just as he finally began to come down from his. His face fell into her neck, kissing it gently in gratitude, as he reveled in the feeling of her internal muscles clamping down on him in release and listened with pride and joy at the sound of his name being cried again from her lips.

Many women have cried out his name over the years, but hearing it from this particular woman, even the hated true name of 'Dale', reached into a part of him that he hadn't even known existed, and Mac honestly wanted to find some way to tell Catherine what she had done to him. His head lifted from the curve of her neck; noting that her body had gone limp, and he smiled blissfully down on her, ready to say something truly sincere to a woman for the first time in his life.

He didn't get a chance.

Her eyes cleared, and anger and confusion entered them. "This didn't happen, Dale. It was just a dream."

His mouth dropped open in surprise. Normally quick-witted Mac was for once at a loss for words, and when he felt her push up against him firmly with the palms of her hands, he sighed and rolled off, knowing their trouble was just beginning. Mac wasn't ready to give up, however. He knew something 'strange' had happened between them that they needed to deal with, and knowing that in his soul, although not at all understanding it yet, his arm reached out to her standing form, followed with quiet words of pleading. "Don't ... please."

Even Mac wasn't sure at that point if it was a plea to stay with him and just talk, stay with him and make love again, or a simple plea of 'please god don't let her tell Nick'. He just knew he wanted her on the floor beside him, and he was willing to wait and deal with the consequences of betraying his best friend later when he could truly think clearly about it.

Catherine didn't care what Mac wanted. All she cared about was reclaiming her sanity. She was in love with Nick, no doubt in her mind, and her heart burst in agony at what she had just done with Mac, as she turned on her heel and stalked to the bathroom, feeling the man's cum running down her legs.

CHAPTER 7

Mac watched her walk away, a sick feeling once again coming to his stomach. He fell onto his back with a groan, quickly chugged down yet another beer and soon fell asleep clutching to his face the pillow she had laid on.

Catherine, disgusted, angry and confused, stood by the bathroom sink gripping it with one hand to steady herself from the shaking in her legs, as she brought a semen-dripping finger close to her face to examine something she'd never seen before. It was tinged with red, but she knew it was probably from her broken virginity, nothing to worry about, and there was also little smell, she noted, not unpleasant, making curiosity fill her to hesitantly touch her tongue to it.

Nature stepped in again.

The very moment her tongue touched it, she lost control, and before she could stop herself, high society-raised 'good girl' Catherine Chase found herself eagerly lapping at her finger, as though craving the taste of low-bred 'bad boy' Dale McKussic. -- Oh dear God! I can't believe I just did that too! -- she immediately thought in horror and downed a glass of water to get the taste of him out of her mouth. She may have liked his taste, but there was no way she was going to admit it, even to herself.

Next, her t-shirt was pulled off and thrown into the laundry pile, as it smelled too much like the jerk, and with a clean one on and a warm wet towel wiped around her legs, she climbed into bed next to Nick, forcing herself to cuddle up against him in shame until she fell asleep. It was the sleep of heart-saving denial.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hours later all three awoke, and Catherine, feeling warm and comfortable in Nick's arms while he kissed her 'good morning', was quickly able to push from her mind the horrible yet exciting DREAM she had had about Mac. She simply convinced herself that it must have been the product of too much wine. -- Never drink like that again! That's one dream I can live without! Mmmmm.. Nick tastes good even first thing in the morning! --

He did. Catherine was also so eager to get rid of the dream memory that she easily accepted his hands all over her body for the first time, and she sighed with pleasure as he eventually made her very ready for him. Her mind did briefly flit on the fact that in her dream she had been almost instantly ready for Mac from just laying next to him on the floor, -- But this is reality! Not a stupid wine-induced dream! Nick is wonderful! I'm so lucky to have him! --

In some ways, she was. Down she moved his boxers to check him out; feeling very pleased with what she saw waiting for her. -- Nice! Very nice! Not quite as big as Dale, though. -- Her conscious mind was careful to focus only on the fact that she had seen Mac undressed twice in front of her and Nick. But it couldn't stop the hit of déjà vu, however, when her hand wrapped around it. It caused her eyes to furrow for a moment, his firm warmth making her feel suddenly
uncomfortable, but she easily dismissed the inexplicable feeling, convinced that it was her first time.

Nick didn't care how she touched him, just as long as she did. He was soaring in heaven, and he happily let her do whatever she wanted with it until a powerful need to cum suddenly struck him. It was so powerful he had to push her hands off with a chortled groan, and Catherine laughed softly, understanding why. She had read enough books and seen enough movies to not be ENTIRELY naïve when it came to bedroom matters.

A minute later, he laughed with her, back under control, and he reached into the bedside drawer to pull out a lubricant, not about to take any chances with lack of moisture for what he thought was her first time. Catherine had only seen the product in advertisements, and being a curious woman by nature, she took the tube from him to examine it on her hands. Once her curiosity was satisfied, she smiled and rubbed it all over his shaft and then over herself, knowing that no matter how ready she was for him that there would likely be pain at first.

"Damn! Can't believe I almost forgot," Nick suddenly exclaimed, as he reached back into the drawer and pulled out a condom.

They hadn't talked about protection yet, and Catherine laughed, although it made her feel yet again extremely proud that she had chosen what she thought was the perfect man for her first time, the man her heart and mind wanted and knew felt for her the same way. "It's ok, Nick. I've had to be on The Pill for years to keep my period regulated. But I guess I do have to ask you something kind of embarrassing, just to be on the safe side."

"You can ask me anything," he assured her.

"That's good, because it really is important, no matter how much I love you." And she paused for a moment to gather her courage to ask such a personal question. "Nick, have you ever had .... ummm .... you know....?"

"An STD? No, never. Always used condoms. I remember the first time .... Mac made sure I had enough," he chuckled at the memory of his 18th birthday. "He never has sex without them either. Don't worry, Honey, I'm clean."

"Oh thank goodness," she sighed. "We don't need condoms then." Catherine was happy, but something Nick had just said touched off a bell in her head, making her slightly uncomfortable again, although not enough to alter her expression at Nick.

"Ready?" he murmured, leaning down to kiss her lightly. -- Oh thank God I don't have to wear them ever again! This just can't get any better! Love her so much!

--

"Ready as I'll ever be," she smiled and lifted her hips to meet him.

With his hands stroking through her hair in a soothing manner, Nick slowly entered her, watching the face of the woman he loved very carefully for any sign of discomfort. All he saw was pleasure, however, as she gazed up at his beautiful blue eyes and smiled reassuringly at him while little soft sighs escaped her lips.

Her reaction was perfect for Nick, and he silently congratulated himself on being so gentle and remembering to buy lube for her. Catherine, on the other hand, did feel a moment of confusion at her reaction. -- Why doesn't it hurt like it's supposed to? -- she wondered, but she easily put it out of her mind, deciding that Nick must not only be the perfect boyfriend but the perfect lover too, and she happily wrapped her legs around his hips to pull him in even deeper.

Soon they were groaning, the bed was squeaking loudly, and the man that was supposed to be with her quickly covered his head with couch pillows, as he tried his best to keep from hearing it. Mac had woken up the moment Catherine had, and he had immediately thought that it had all been a dream. -- Best goddamn dream of my life! -- But only a dream, he had been sure until the unique smell of his pillow, blanket and hands was noticed, and then, in even more confirmation, he had discovered dried blood on both his dick and the sheet where she had laid.

-- Fucking shit! -- he thought, slamming his fists into the pillows around his head. -- I shafted my best friend! He'll never forgive me! I'LL never forgive me! What the fuck is wrong with me?! I've got tons of girls and Annie too! Cat isn't my type! She isn't! What the hell is gonna happen now?! God I KNEW something would happen with her! This is gonna change everything! That fucking bitch MADE me do it! She pushed my head right into her cunt! Oh god I'm sorry, Nick! It wasn't my fault! --

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An hour of torment for Mac later, and Nick and Catherine came out of the bathroom, freshly showered. Mac stood dressed and ready to make a beeline out the door, just in case Nick had found out and wanted to say 'good morning' with his fists. -- Don't wanna fight him! It was just a stupid drunken mistake! Never get drunk around her again! She's Nick's bitch, not mine! -- he forced himself to think while ignoring the stirring in his groin that told him otherwise, as he stared at her.

His fear of Nick finding out was unfounded. They looked fine, holding hands and kissing lightly, and it made Mac feel very relieved ... at first. Then, it came. For a split second of total blackness enveloping his rational mind, Mac had to fight back the strongest urge he'd ever felt to simply jump up and bash someone's head in. He actually had to dig his fingers into his palms to keep himself from making the image in his mind of throwing Catherine over his shoulder from coming true.

-- Claim claim claim, -- his high testosterone levels rushed to his mind and chanted again. "Morning," he barely managed to choke out, as he held the insanity in him back.

Catherine and Nick looked over at him for the first time, and Catherine suddenly felt dizzy. Her eyes focused on Mac's mouth, then traveled down to his crotch, and what she thought had only been a dream hit her full force. She swayed noticeably, and fell into Nick's arms. "Catherine/Cat!" the men both shouted, as Mac rushed over to them.

Instantly Nick swept her up into his arms and laid her on the couch, and from there she could see the spots of blood on the crumpled up sheet that Mac had thrown into a pile with the blankets. -- Oh My God! I gave my virginity to Nick's best friend .... a drug dealer! How could I do that?! And he didn't use a condom! He didn't know I was on The Pill! He just did it! The bastard didn't care that I could've gotten pregnant! --

Actually, Mac was thinking along that line too at the same time he stared down at her in worry. -- Can't believe I forgot to use a condom last night! What the fuck was I thinking?! I NEVER forget that! --

"I'm OK, Nick, really," she said in clipped tone, ignoring both sets of concerned blue eyes. "Just need to get some food in my stomach before I throw up. Must have had something last night that didn't agree with me."

"Yeah, guess it was too much for ya to handle," Mac retorted in a way that kept his own tone carefully neutral. He couldn't help it. Anger was coming right back to the surface at what she had MADE him do.

"Sure, Honey," Nick nodded and helped her off the couch to watch her head off to the kitchen. And as soon as the kitchen door swung close, he turned to Mac with a shrug. "Too much wine last night."

"Yeah," Mac rapidly agreed. "We were ALL pretty wasted last night .. Look, I'm outta here. I'll see ya later." -- Assuming you still want to talk to me, that is, after the bitch blats her eyes out on ya at how the horrible monster Dale attacked her when she was drunk. --

"No way, man," Nick grinned. "Have breakfast first, at least. Come on, I'm in a GREAT mood."

Mac snorted, looking pointedly in the direction of their bedroom. "I BET ya are."

"Oh yeah," Nick laughed softly and nodded his head with a big grin.

"Good?" Mac couldn't stop himself from asking, although in the very deep dark pit of his mind he screamed, -- KILL! --

"Fucking BEST," his friend looked like the Cheshire cat. "Not letting this one get away. And I don't even have to use condoms. She's on the pill."

WHAT? Nature suddenly realized it had mis-fired. Apparently, one mating wasn't going to do it this time.

-- Oh thank god! -- Mac sighed in relief. "Well, uhhhhh," he looked down at the ground. "As long as you're happy then." -- Yeah, as long as you're happy. I'm not gonna be the one to burst your bubble. --

"Breakfast's ready, Nick," Catherine called from the kitchen, and Nick quickly pushed Mac in to join them.

They sat together at the small table where Nick did most of the talking. Catherine and Mac were having enough trouble trying to swallow their food and keep from throwing hateful glances at each other. Fifteen minutes went by, and Catherine couldn't take it anymore. Standing, she looked only at Nick and announced, "I think I've got some laundry to do. Goodbye Dale."

"Bye," he grunted into his plate and stuffed more bacon in his mouth.

She didn't even notice when he left the house a few minutes later.

Chapter 8

For two weeks Mac stayed away from them both, not at all liking how she had made him feel and still not being sure what he should do about it, if anything. When Nick inevitably called him, Mac easily explained that he'd just been busy lately and would get together with him later. He really did try to stay busy. He spent his time working his 'business', going to classes for the distraction and
fucking as often as he could Annie and a couple of other girls he'd been with before and always used to like.

There was one problem he soon discovered, though. The Catwoman poster had stayed where it was on the floor, hidden behind his desk where he could see it on the mornings he woke up alone and needed to jerk-off. But he also needed the damn poster when he was screwing someone. No matter how hard he tried with a woman, he just couldn't cum without seeing that specific image. -- Stupid poster! Wish I had never found it! My dick would probably fucking burst now without it! --

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Catherine and Nick spent the two weeks in seemingly domestic bliss, straightening their place to the way they both liked it and making love often, which made for a very, very happy Nick. Catherine was happy too. For self-preservation, she had pushed aside the guilt and now only felt twinges of sorrow and lingering anger at what she had done with Mac. She easily blamed it on too much wine and Mac having taken advantage of her. -- He seduced me! I was drunk! -- She was not at all willing to admit to herself yet that HE had been the one that actually tried to stop it TWICE. -- I love Nick! Nick will never know, and it will never happen again! --

The day came when Nick would no longer take no for an answer from Mac, and he and Catherine showed up unexpectedly at the dorm, opening Mac's unlocked door when he didn't answer their knock. The reason was clear. Mac was bent over Annie's ass held for him high in the air, as he furiously slammed her while holding her hips tightly in place.

Nick immediately laughed, only slightly embarrassed, as it wasn't the first time he had caught Mac in a similar position, but Catherine gasped loudly in surprise, and her hand flew to her mouth while she averted her gaze.

"Fuck!" Mac shouted, as he scrambled to grab a blanket to throw over him and Annie. "Ya could've knocked!" He didn't know why, but he was actually feeling embarrassment at being caught in the act, something that would have only just amused him if it hadn't been for Catherine's presence.

"Did knock," Nick laughed again. "But you were too busy going at it to hear, obviously."

"Well, what do ya want?" Mac sputtered, carefully looking only at Nick. He was in a hurry. All he wanted to do was get back to screwing Annie so he could get rid of her.

"Come on Nick, Dale is busy," Catherine interjected, pulling on Nick's arm.

For the briefest second, Mac and Catherine's eyes met, and Mac's cock jumped so hard in response that he had to ball the blanket up even tighter into his lap to keep from spurting his sudden desire right then and there.

"It's Mac," Annie grumbled, remembering how Mac had complained to her weeks ago about how the stuck up bitch always used his hated first name of Dale.

Obviously, Mac must have changed his mind. His head shook, and he looked sharply at Annie. "Whatever, it's cool."

Catherine didn't even bother to look at Annie. It was as though the woman didn't even exist to her. Very firmly, holding Mac's eyes again, she huffed, "Dale, enjoy your USES," and left the room.

With a shrug of her boyfriend's shoulders at Mac, he immediately followed her out. Mac didn't know what to do. He stared at the closed door, swore loudly and punched a hole right in his wall. He didn't even feel any pain yet.

"You're bleeding!" Annie exclaimed at watching him stare at the blood dripping on his bed.

"Tell me something I don't know," he snarled, wiped it off and jumped out of the bed to light one up for some heavy-duty smoking.

It was an hour later before he relaxed enough to allow Annie to suck him off in hopes to next relieve some of his physical stress. Annie was very happy to oblige.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another week went by and Mac showed up at their place with Annie again. He missed Nick and was beginning to feel really bad about neglecting their friendship over something he couldn't change or fix. He was determined to not let Catherine bother him anymore. Of course, Nature had other plans.

For an afternoon of football, the guys camped out in front of the TV while the women tried in the beginning to get their attention. Annie didn't have any luck with Mac, as he easily ignored her, although he did allow her to touch him while he kept his focus on the game and Nick.

Nick was a bit nicer to Catherine, kissing her back lightly, but he also pretty much kept his own attention on the game and Mac, and Catherine didn't really mind. She knew that Nick had been acting slightly depressed about not seeing Mac, and she was happy for his sake that Mac had come over. Nick never once spoke to her about his hurt in feeling neglected by Mac, but it was enough for her to sense and feel bad knowing that she was likely the cause of it. She was determined to not let Mac bother her anymore. Nature just smiled knowingly.

Nick really had been feeling hurt. He could sense that Mac was pulling away from him, and he guessed partly correctly that it had to be something to do with Mac's dislike of Catherine. He just didn't know what to do about it besides breaking up with Catherine, and that was an option he wasn't willing to take. Nick loved Catherine with all his heart, and he had decided before Mac showed up that Mac would just have to come to terms with it, accept his choice in life or their friendship would continue to separate.

Seeing Mac again today for the game finally gave Nick hope that the two people he loved could put aside their differences, that they could all get along as friends eventually. He had no way of knowing that it would be a very long time before that hope would become a true possibility.

In defeat to the game, the women headed into the kitchen to retrieve more snacks and make dinner for their men. They stood facing each other, and Annie admitted, trying not to cry, "I'm not stupid, ya know. You and Mac got something going behind Nick's back. Nick's a nice guy. I won't say anything if ya stay away from my man."

It took Catherine by surprise that the woman picked up on it and would bring it out in the open like that. Her mouth opened to automatically protest that nothing was going on, but then she hesitated, admitting to herself that something honestly DID happen and that her traitorous body wanted it to happen again. "OK," she said very quietly in agreement.

Mac walked in, having overheard their conversation, and realized that he couldn't dump Annie like he'd been considering. He was not ready to risk blowing his friendship with Nick apart no matter what his body was telling him it needed. He was also angrier than he cared to admit at how easily it appeared that Catherine had said 'OK' to staying away from him when he knew that her body signals were screaming at him that she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

Mac had actually smelled her desire for him when he had first brushed closely by her in the foyer after stepping in the front door with Annie. Catherine had felt the gush of sudden wetness and blushed furiously when she had seen the look in Mac's eye. It had been a very male look of a type that she knew she had been told that he was well aware that her body was betraying her. What she hadn't known at the time was that it had taken all of Mac's willpower, realizing that the woman was actually responding to his presence like he did to hers, to not grab at her crotch right then and there in front of Nick and Annie.

If he had done that, he wouldn't be in the kitchen right now interrupting their conversation about him. "NOTHING is going on, and nothing WILL go on. And if you say anything to Nick, Annie, I'll have you blacklisted in town. Now where's the fucking food?"

A sudden surge of what she knew was irrational anger swept through Catherine at his dismissal of her, and she threw a bag of chips at him, before turning her back to start making dinner. "Bitch," Mac murmured, grabbed more beer and slammed the fridge door behind him.

At his departure, Catherine began to take out her anger on the vegetables, shaking visibly while she tried but failed not to cry, as she chopped and hacked them to pieces. It was an emotional scene any good woman could relate to, and under Annie's tough exterior, she was a good woman too. Her heart was breaking, realizing now that Mac didn't really belong to her and probably never would, but she just couldn't help feeling bad for Catherine, who had obviously also fallen under his spell.

Her hand went tenderly to Catherine's shoulder, and Catherine looked up, feeling two things at once. A dark urge to plunge the knife into the girl who was sleeping with Mac coursed through her, but over-riding that, thankfully, was also a feeling of surprise at the girl's compassion and her own wrongly judgmental attitude towards her.

Catherine smiled for a second at Annie, wiped her eyes with her arm, and Annie smiled back. It was exactly what was needed for them; they moved on, not quite as friends, but no longer with feelings of intense dislike towards each other. It was almost as if they 'bonded' over their mutual 'sickness'.

Dinner was continued to be prepared together in comfortable silence, and they brought it out to the men. Nick quickly kissed Catherine a 'thank you', and Mac, not wanting to test Annie's feelings for him any longer where the possibility of Nick getting hurt was concerned, smiled and patted her on the ass when she nervously bent over to put his plate down in front of him.

After what he had threatened in the kitchen, it startled Annie, but Mac swiftly put her at ease with a wink and another bright smile. -- Yeah, I was thinking of dumping her, but she really IS a nice girl, definitely more my type than Cat. Besides, no way Nick's gonna let go of Cat, and she may want to fuck me blind but I'm betting she'd suck as a girlfriend .... drive me up the fucking wall.

Probably try to get me to go straight and dress like her and cut my hair and take school seriously and all that boring shit .... Try to turn me into Nick hahahaha. Annie likes me the way I am. Nick can keep the bitch. Can't hurt him anyways. Annie is good enough for me .. right? --

Wrong.

His stomach clenched so badly at seeing Catherine sitting in Nick's arms kissing him, that he reached for Annie to sit on his lap and help him swallow back down his anger at seeing another man, best friend or not, touching what he really knew was HIS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the game, the men, feeling quite good from drinking beer all afternoon together, wanted to play strip poker. -- Men! -- Catherine laughed to herself, fairly certain she would keep her clothes on and win. -- Cool! -- Annie thought, planning on losing on purpose. And she did. Round after round she relished the appreciative look on both men's faces, as they openly stared at her while she stripped items off.

At first, Catherine was quick to think, -- TRAMP! -- again, but remembering their time in the kitchen, she pushed it away and laughed along with them. She truly didn't mind that Nick was having fun seeing Annie's body during what was only a game, although a deep part of her did mind that Mac was also enjoying the display.

The men, of course, didn't mind losing either, and being red-blooded sexually driven young men, they both purposely tried to get naked too. Nick soon lost his boxer shorts, and Annie glanced right over at Catherine with a grin at seeing how well-endowed Nick was too before the suddenly red-faced man sat back down to everyone's laughter.

Mac, on the other hand, very slowly removed his clothes each time while Annie watched him with full-blown lust and Catherine watched out of the corner of her eye. She even managed to control her reaction until Mac caught her eye for moment when his jeans were in the process of dropping to the floor and it was shown to all that he wore nothing beneath. Catherine blushed furiously, grabbed Nick's hand under the table and tried but fail to stop looking.

Amazingly, Mac was not yet showing physical arousal. He may have been staring in fun before at Annie, but he had had no problem keeping it under control. Now, however, it was taking every piece of his formidable strength of will to keep it from happening under the heat of two desirable women's eyes on it, especially when one set of them belonged to Catherine.

The moment Mac felt it twitch, though, he quickly sat down and started playing again. Nick, although aroused under the table at seeing Annie naked, did not become rock hard with desire until Catherine finally had to take her shirt off. He wasn't the only one feeling that way now. Because Nick openly watched Annie undress each time, Mac had no problem boldly staring at Catherine along with Nick, as she did it as quickly as she could, not at all feeling sexy in slowly
stripping like Annie.

Everyone was bare except for Catherine, who sat quite uncomfortably in her cotton pants and a pretty red satin bra. It was enough to make Nick squirm visibly in his seat, wanting very much to forget the game and take his girlfriend right to bed. She was turning red with embarrassment at feeling everyone's eyes on her, and only holding onto Nick's hand again under the table gave her the courage to stay in her seat, as she carefully kept her eyes on anything but Mac's.

When she finally lost again, she was immensely grateful that, unlike Annie and Mac, she always wore underwear, and she quickly slipped out of her pants under the intense scrutiny of everyone checking out her matching red bikini panties. -- Just like sitting in a bathing suit! -- she thought wildly. -- Nothing strange about it! They're all naked, and I'm just sitting in my bathing suit! --

Mac's eyes never left her again, and it made Catherine fidget in her chair and hold onto Nick's hand even tighter. She could feel Mac's eyes boring into every piece of her body that he could see sitting across from her, and it made her body begin to betray her again. Her panties started to soak up a dripping heat that only one man could bring out in her so easily.

His nose flared in response, immediately picking up on her scent calling out to him, and his hands clenched his cards so tightly that they began to turn white, while his jaw clenched painfully at noticing that Nick had also picked up on it too. With a small smile, Nick released her hand to creep it along her thigh, going higher and higher, and Mac's subconscious simply couldn't take it. Nature struck once again.

His gaze pierced Catherine's eyes so hard, as he narrowed them dangerously in warning to her at sensing what another man was doing, that Catherine felt a bolt of true fear run through her and whispered frantically, "Nick, don't," while she pushed his hand away.

Annie and Nick laughed; only Catherine had noticed how tense Mac had become as though he were ready to fly out of his chair and strangle Nick, and Nick easily kissed her cheek with a, "Mmmmm.... later Honey."

Disaster was averted, barely.

It was the next hand that Catherine finally cracked. Although she was playing her best, she had just lost again, and she wanted to cry at knowing she had to take off either her bra or panties now. Nick, quite drunk, smiled encouragingly at her, while she gripped his hand in a near panic at wondering what to do. "Come on Cat . I mean Catherine," Annie corrected herself when she saw the look Mac gave her for using HIS name for Catherine. "Take it off. Don't make me the only slut here."

"I... I...," Catherine stammered, looking back and forth to the three of them, followed by thinking, -- What?! -- when she felt a warm bare foot run firmly up the inside of her calf, almost causing her to jump from her seat in shock at the heated touch. Her panties were doused again, and Mac caught her eyes, as he silently told her that he was the one moving his foot even higher. "I can't!" she yelped. "I'm sorry, Annie!" And Catherine jumped, running to her room.

The men turned to look at each other for a moment, while Nick wondered if he should go after her or if it would make it worse, and Mac wondered if he had pushed her over the edge by touching her under the table. -- Couldn't help it! Was driving me crazy seeing her, smelling her .... Had to let her know .... know what? -- But when he looked over at Nick again, the answer came roaring up from his true inner-self in a way he couldn't deny anymore. He knew both subconsciously and consciously now that this very specific woman -- FUCKING BELONGS TO ME!! --

With that revelation hitting him, Mac stood and angrily pulled his clothes on, while Annie followed a moment later with just a shirt and headed to the bedroom to talk to Catherine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey, it's OK, Catherine," she said, sitting down on the bed beside her. "Not every girl can play strip poker to the end."

"I feel so stupid, Annie. You're so comfortable with your sexuality. I feel like . like a 10 year old, and I'm 22!"

"You're enjoying it with Nick, right?" Annie asked, while Catherine nodded truthfully. "Then don't worry about it. You're very pretty, and you have a great relationship with Nick. Mac and I are a different type of people when it comes to sex, is all. It's very open and easy to us. Take what we want when we want it kinda thing. You and Nick are softer, and I mean that nicely, ya know."

Catherine nodded again, understanding what the woman meant. "From what I've heard from Mac," Annie continued, "Nick has been with a few women, not nearly as many as Mac, but he's a pretty traditional guy, enjoys the romance part of it too. You're really lucky to have that. Mac wouldn't know romance if it hit him upside the head."

A snort from Catherine, as she tried to picture Mac holding flowers, something Nick often did for her. "Does ... does he hurt you in bed?" Catherine asked quietly, suspecting correctly that Mac had that capability in him from the look he had given her when Nick was stroking her thigh. She wasn't going to judge Annie no matter what her answer was. Catherine did understand from reading that many people tolerated and some even welcomed a bit of pain or roughness when it was given in just the right way during willing sex.

Annie took a moment to consider the question. "Not really," she replied honestly. "He has a short temper, as you probably know, and he can be really rough, almost mean in the way he'll do it when he's pissed off and just using me as a convenient lay, but he's never really hurt me before. I don't think he ever will. Most of the time he's perfect, gentle but real wild too. Makes sure I cum a lot, which most guys I've been with, too many to fucking count now, sure don't care about. And hey, Mac is real great with the whole deep throat thing, which is really cool for me."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Catherine asked, feeling kind of embarrassed at not being entirely sure of that term even after hours of research reading about sex.

"You know .... he never forces me to take it all. He's really big, Catherine, and some other guys smaller than him would make me choke and gag on it until I got it all the way down. But Mac is fine with it. He lets me take what I can and seems satisfied with that."

"What's it like?" Catherine suddenly blurted, her curiosity full swing now.

"Huh? You've NEVER?" Annie stared at her in disbelief. -- She's been with Nick for weeks and SOMETHING happened between her and Mac at least once. Can't believe she hasn't sucked a guy! --

"No," Catherine looked away in embarrassment. "Hasn't really come up yet. And I'm not sure I really want it to," -- at least not with Nick, -- an unwanted thought added.

"Nothing to it," Annie laughed softly, not rudely. "Just lick, suck hard and stroke a lot, and the guy will cum. He'll tell ya how he likes it best. Just hope ya don't get a guy that tries to force ya to take it all if ya can't. I'm telling ya, I sure as hell can't complain about Mac in bed . best actually. Even buys all the condoms we need even though I'm on The Pill. Just wish he'd lay off the other women now. Been dating him for months."

-- He even uses them with Annie! Why would he take that risk with me that night? -- "I'm sorry, Annie, although why do I think that YOU'RE the only one he takes places and the others are just a distraction once in a while?"

"Yeah, I think you're right," she agreed. "He never takes them anywhere but to bed. I'm the only one he actually goes out with. And I guess I have to give him credit for it. Never does it behind my back. Just leaves a rubber band on the door knob so I'll know not to even knock when he's got one in there."

"That's horrible!" Catherine spat in disgust.

"No it isn't, not really," she sighed sadly. "I'd rather know than accidentally walk in on it. He's thinking about my feelings in that way, see? Trying to be nice and not really hurt me."

"But Annie, he IS hurting you by sleeping with other women, whether you know about it or not. You should say something to him. Stand up to him." -- What an awful boyfriend Dale would make. Thank God I have Nick. --

"No, I can't!" Annie cried in firm refusal. "I can leave Mac anytime I want to, but if I do, or if I give him an ultimatum, I'll never see him again. He's already told me that. That's another good thing about Mac. He tells everything the way it is. He doesn't play games, Catherine. But if you don't do things HIS way, you're out, simple as that."

"Well I think it's rotten!" Catherine almost shouted in indignation for her new friend. "Dale has to learn he can't have everything his way! He should be grateful to have you by his side!" -- Because he's not getting ME no matter what the insensitive jerk tries! --

"Thank you, Catherine," Annie practically sobbed, as the two women hugged tightly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By now it was really late and storming with hurricane force winds, and Nick had already convinced a reluctant Mac to spend the night with Annie in the guest room as their first real house guests. The women were told as soon as they walked out of the bedroom, and Mac couldn't keep himself from looking directly at Catherine for a moment. It made her flush in anger at the memory they were sharing, and she stepped right over to Nick's side in response.

"Go get ready for bed, Annie," Mac kissed her with a light slap on her ass. "I'll be right behind ya."

Catherine had relented to give up her queen size bed for the guest room so that she and Nick could sleep in his king bed, but the thought of Mac in her old bed was beginning to make her feel strange, and she wished now that they had simply bought a new bed for the guest room instead. With nothing to be done about it, though, she quickly pulled Nick into their room, as she didn't want to stay another minute around him until she had more time to think clearly again from the poker game and knowing now that he would be sleeping nearby.

Nick, naturally, wanted to have sex, but Catherine absolutely wasn't up for that type of intimacy with him with Mac in the house again, and she managed to hold Nick at bay by telling him she had a headache and letting him hold her closely until he fell into a drunken sleep. It upset her greatly that Mac was affecting her in that way, but she listened to her instincts and settled down into a fitful sleep within his arms.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mac climbed into bed with Annie, but he sensed immediately that he was in Catherine's bed. The sheets and blankets may have been clean, but Catherine's essence was imbedded in the mattress from years of use, and nothing could change that, making it a major problem for Mac.

Annie, of course, wanted sex, and Mac had every intention of giving her what she wanted, as he desperately needed some release too from the intense game of strip poker, but he shockingly found that he couldn't do it; his erection waned at the thought of being with Annie in Catherine's bed.

His body was on fire, though, feeling Catherine all around him as he laid in her bed, and it became so bad for him that he almost stripped the blankets and sheets off to bury his face into the mattress in a frantic attempt to be closer to the only woman he truly needed. Somehow, he managed to control himself, and pretending to be tired from all the beer, he made his excuse to Annie.

"Take care of ya in the morning, babe," he said, as he started to turn his back on her. "Just need to get some sleep now. I'm beat."

He knew it was lame, and so did Annie. She started to cry, suspecting correctly why Mac didn't want her, and he quickly rolled back over and held her in his arms. He may not have had deep feelings for Annie, but he honestly liked her as a person. "Hey, it's OK. Everything's cool between us. You know how much I like being with ya. I'll be fine in the morning. Just be a good girl and let me get some sleep. OK?" And when she nodded, he gently kissed around her face and continued to hold her until she drifted off feeling reassured of his affection for her.

Although Catherine often slept comfortably in Nick's arms, she just couldn't that night. She had a much harder time staying asleep and woke repeatedly, finally decided to make herself some warm milk and stepped quietly through the living room to the kitchen. Although she couldn't stop thinking about how she had tripped over Mac that 'horrible' night, she had no fear of it happening again, as the man was safe in the spare room with Annie.

Or so she hoped.

With the glass of milk emptied, she walked back down the hallway on her way to Nick, when a hand suddenly shot out of the darkness and grabbed her. The other hand instantly clamped tight over her mouth, and Catherine Chase was pulled into the bathroom while her attacker locked the door behind them.

Chapter 9

A body pushed Catherine roughly up against the wall. "I'll move my hand, but you better not scream," he warned, and Catherine immediately nodded her head at seeing the wild look in his eyes.

The minute he moved his hand away, she pushed back her initial fear and snapped out, "What do you want, Dale?" She was no longer really scared. Being grabbed in the dark was one thing, but knowing it was Mac now reassured her, in some ways.

He didn't even bother to answer. His hands flattened against the wall on both sides of her head, and he began sniffing around her hair and neck as though checking for something. He was, maybe not knowingly, but a part of him definitely was. "Nick take you?" he growled, as his eyes narrowed at the thought.

Whipping her head in a firm 'NO', she anxiously explained, "Just held me." This man could make her go from feeling reassured to feeling a twinge of fear again with just a look.

"That's what I thought." His voice turned soft, pleased, as he was now able to nuzzle contently into her neck and ignore that very faint smell of the other man on her.

"Dale?" she said while fighting with herself not to reach up and run her hands through his hair at feeling the tender little kisses he was running over her neck. His touch actually reached her in a way unlike any other man and made her have to bite her lip to keep from moaning with pleasure.

"What?" he blew into her ear while nipping around it lightly.

"I asked you what you want. We can't go on like this," she panted breathlessly, as she pressed her own hands against the wall in a desperate attempt to keep from fainting. -- Hold onto the wall, Catherine, -- her mind raced hysterically, -- or you're going to fall down the rabbit hole and never get out! -- "You're right, we can't, but you know what I want," he continued to breathe warmly in her ear, as he placed his hand between her legs and firmly cupped her sex. Catherine was wearing her regular nighttime apparel. A long t-shirt, panties and short robe she had put on for her trip to the kitchen.

"Noooo please," she moaned, trying to move his hand away even though her muscles involuntary pushed down against his hand and soaked her panties. "I can't . you can't."

It brought a thrill of victory to Mac, feeling and hearing her desire for him, no matter what words of denial she spoke. "I won't," he said with resolve, as he stared at her closely. "Promised myself, not gonna happen again," although he deliberately pushed up with his hand and delighted in the feeling of her grinding down on him. "I love Nick too much," he continued while his lips moved closer to hers, "to take you like that again, but I need to tell you something."

"What?" she whispered. Her hands were still on his arm, no longer trying to push away but now clutched tight to him.

Mac had come to the conclusion after that poker game that Catherine really did belong to him, but he was not about to take her completely from his best friend. His love for Nick just wouldn't let him do it, but he wanted to be damn sure that he made an impression forever on her mind, not to mention on her body and in her soul too.

"You gave yourself to me first. You're mine, Cat. You know it and I know it. It's not Nick your cunt calls for." And to prove it, he pinched her clit through the panties and reveled in the moan she gave him.

"Noooo, it was a mistake, drunk ...," she tried to say, as she instinctively moved in search of more from his hand.

Blue eyes flared in anger at her refusal to admit out loud what he knew was true, and Catherine began to tremble in apprehension, although she was afraid to fight him and possibly wake up Nick and Annie. She didn't know what was worse, a touch of fear from Mac or heart-felt fear of losing Nick. Either way, she decided to remain defiant. "It goes both ways, Dale."

"What are ya saying?" His eyes narrowed again, sensing a turn in the conversation.

"Jesus!" he shouted in a hoarse whisper, as he practically jumped out of his skin at the feel of Catherine gripping his cock through his jeans. He may have gone to bed nude with Annie, but he had thrown them on the moment he had heard Catherine's quiet footsteps in the hall on her way to the kitchen.

"I may not know much about sex," she said with a hint of snideness in her voice, as she squeezed hard to make him moan, "but something tells me it only wants to point in MY direction now."

She was absolutely correct, and she released him instantly at the sound he made while enjoying the feel of her own tiny victory. "Fucking bitch!" he snarled and pressed his groin into her stomach. He didn't deny what she said; he knew it was true. He just hated what it meant.

Catherine may have known she was right too, but nothing could have prepared her for what he did next.

Forcing Mac to confront his fear about losing himself and his well-earned and fought for independence to a woman, something he felt only losers and pussy-whipped wimps did, made him so angry that he spat into her face, "Go back to Nick, and keep thinking about me like I know ya do when he's fucking ya. It's all you'll ever get from me .... except for this .. a reminder of who REALLY owns your ass."

Without warning, four fingers plunged as deep into her as they could reach, and at the same time, as his other hand roughly pushed and held her head to the side, his teeth sunk into that tender spot of her neck where it met her shoulder. -- OH GOD HELP ME! -- she screamed inside, as his teeth broke the skin. Her hand flew to her mouth, holding it in, while intense pleasure and pain wracked through her body and soul.

Mac was growling like an animal, as he sucked fiercely on the wound. Normally he would have been revolted at something like this, but he was listening to a part of him that he just couldn't deny anymore, and that animal part of him wanted very badly to taste just once the blood of this one woman in his mouth.

Catherine moaned and thrashed against him at the feel of what he was doing inside her and what he was doing on her neck. In moments her vaginal muscles spasmed and clamped down on his fingers, bringing her to a type of violent orgasm that no other man would ever be able to give her. She peaked over and over on him, and Mac moved his bloodied lips from her neck to kiss her deeply, making Catherine suck the salty taste of herself into mouth, as their tongues erupted in a frenzy against each other.

Harshly with urgency, he smothered her mouth and dove into every corner to taste and feel it all, knowing that he would never do it again after tonight. Catherine accepted their second kiss like she had the first one. She also knew, as her body bucked in the throes of release and she desperately drank from Mac's mouth, that she too would never again feel this way in her life.

When her muscles finally began to relax, he pinched her clit hard once more to make her cry out again, and then quickly withdrew his hand to taste her a final time. His eyes never left hers, as he carefully licked his fingers clean with long strokes of his tongue, and it was so erotic, she thought, watching him in a daze, that she briefly wondered why Nick had never done anything quite like that before.

When he was satisfied with the sweet taste of her in his mouth, Mac attacked her lips again, and Catherine willingly surrendered ..... again. Her arms folded around his back to hold him to her, as he frantically ground against her stomach and pulled and twisted his hands in her hair. In less than a minute, he cried into her mouth, exploded in his jeans and sagged heavily against her in relief.

As soon as he caught his breath, he moved from her lips to look at her with a serious expression on his face, and she fleetingly wondered at what he could possibly do to her next. His hips pulled away, a sensation of loss she hated herself for feeling, and his hand slowly entered his jeans. "Your turn," he growled very softly, as he watched her face to see if she would turn away.

Catherine didn't .... she couldn't, and it pleased something so deep inside Mac to watch her tongue eagerly dart out and lick at his fingers he smeared over her lips, that he felt himself hardening all over again. Feeling her actually caress his fingers next and then suck them firmly between her lips, as he shoved each one in for it's turn, began to turn that arousal into a throbbing of need.

Their eyes were holding meaningfully, and they were both sighing in pleasure at this little ritual, but Mac wouldn't let himself give in to the need again. He knew if he did, they would never get out of the bathroom alive. He'd made his point, and it was time to end it.

With a groan of reluctance, he pulled his fingers from her mouth and pressed both hands flat against the wall again to give himself much-needed strength. His lips fell to the wound on her neck, and he gently kissed it while running his tongue smoothly over it to bring forth one final moan. And when she gave it to him, his eyes moved back up, captured hers for a soul-speaking moment, and Catherine suddenly knew it was over.

"MINE," he grunted .... and left the room.

Chapter 10

Catherine crumpled to the floor, crying and held her neck. Little time passed, however, before she gathered herself, wiped her tears and became angry all over again. -- That bastard probably only did it to make me wear my hair down! --

Once in control, she walked out into the hallway, and the raw sounds of sex coming from the spare bedroom hit her in the face. Mac was grunting loudly while Annie continually cried out his name, and she could even hear the plaintive squeaking of her bed in time to their shouts. For a second, it almost made tears fall again, but feeling more fury than sadness, she carefully climbed
into bed to sleep as far away from Nick as she could get.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the morning, Catherine's neck was aching badly, and still complaining of a headache, she jumped out of bed quickly before Nick could try anything and ran into the bathroom to look at what Mac had done to her again. -- OH NO!! It's going to scar! -- she thought in horror while she examined it closely.

She didn't know what to do. She had to come up with a lie in order to spare Nick and not lose him. Even after what Mac made her feel physically again, she knew she still loved Nick. She wasn't about to throw a real love away for the bizarreness she had with a man she pretty much despised

The lie came to her as she showered and then placed a large bandage over the wound. With a deep breath, she pushed her hair down in front for once and walked into the living room. The men were watching TV, and Mac looked right up at her while she quickly lowered her eyes and turned to Nick. "I .. I slipped in the tub, Nick. Broke the shower massager. Scraped my neck, but it's fine."

"Let me see." Nick jumped from the couch, worried.

"NO! It's OK," she rushed, stepping back, as she glanced at Mac. "Just some cuts where it landed on me when I fell. I covered it."

It didn't relieve his worry, and his hand reached out to push back her hair. She might have been able to remain still, but Mac was looking at her so heatedly that she lowered her eyes again and took another step back. "It's really OK, Nick. Be fine in a few days. I'll pick up a new showerhead today."

"Well," he drawled, seeing the determination in her face at not wanting him to worry about her. "If you say so."

"I do," she smiled up at him, and with defiance aimed at Mac, placed her hands on Nick's shoulders to kiss him gratefully. -- Bastard's trying to torment me with those looks of his! I'll just focus more on Nick from now on until he gets the hint and stops it! --

She actually thought for about two seconds that Mac had gotten the hint. A surge of triumph ran through her when she saw him stand up with narrowed eyes at seeing them kiss, but that triumph was short-lived. He didn't leave the room like Catherine expected; he walked right over to them. She should have known better. She should have learned at least ONE thing about Mac by now, that she wasn't just dealing with a highly sexually aggressive man, she was dealing with a highly impulsive and unpredictable man.

"Let me see your neck. Shouldn't fool around with a neck wound."

Before a shocked Catherine had a chance to protest, he pulled her away from Nick, pushed her hair back and ripped open the bandage to inspect it. -- Beautiful, -- he thought with pride. -- She'll be fine. Good cover story. I knew she'd think of something. --

"Nasty looking," Nick commented.

"Yeah ... nasty," Mac agreed. "Does it .. hurt?" he asked with a slight curl of his lip in sadistic amusement.

"Ahhhh.... no," she answered while struggling to control her temper at knowing he was enjoying this. "It did when it happened, just aches now. Nick could you get me some Tylenol for the ache?"

"Sure Honey."

"You bastard!" she hissed at Mac as soon as Nick left the room. "I can't believe you did this to me!"

"Told you," he shrugged, although his face was deadly serious, as he stepped even closer and ran his fingers lightly over it. "MINE."

An involuntary soft gasp escaped her lips, and Mac nodded, pleased, as he put the bandage back on for her and stepped away just as Nick walked back in. A movement caught their eyes from the direction of the kitchen, though, and they both looked over to see Annie staring at them, realizing that she had probably seen it all.

The woman appeared very upset, but she managed to control herself to walk by them to the spare room. "What's wrong with Annie?" Nick asked, as Catherine took the Tylenol from his hand and went after her.

"Dunno," Mac shrugged, as he headed to the kitchen for breakfast. "Probably PMS."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Annie?" Catherine sat down next to her on the bed, remembering how Annie had helped her the night before. "I don't know what you're thinking ..."

"Mac marked ya, didn't he?" she interrupted, fixing her gaze right at Catherine.

Catherine wanted to deny it, but her hand flew to her neck, and she could tell the woman wanted the truth ... deserved the truth. With a silent affirmation, she nodded a 'yes'.

"I should've known," Annie sighed sadly. "He didn't even fuck me until after he went to the bathroom .... where I'm betting it happened."

Another nod from Catherine.

"Mac's bitten me too," she added quietly, making Catherine feel a surge of jealousy at the thought of him doing it to another woman. "But it was never much," Annie continued. "Just little nips once in a while. Never broke the skin .... but I could see from where I was that he really did a job on you."

"He did," Catherine whispered. "It was horrible and ....."

"Fucking incredible?" Annie finished for her.

"Yes, God yes. I'm sorry, Annie. But, we didn't ... you know ..."

"Fuck?"

"It's not going to happen again. Dale just has some twisted idea that because we were drunk a few weeks ago and I accidentally gave him my virginity, that it means more than that."

Now that Catherine has told someone her dark secret, even though that someone was Mac's 'girlfriend', the whole sordid thing came out, and she cried, telling Annie everything that happened both nights with Mac.

Annie held her, crying too, as she understood better than anyone just how powerless Catherine was like herself in making anything stop with Mac. "Please don't hate me, Annie," Catherine sobbed. "I ... I really like you now. I'm sorry I judged you before I got to know you."

"I don't hate ya," she cried back. "Believe me, I WANT to . but I don't. And I'm sorry for acting all bitchy to ya before too. You're not nearly as bad as Mac made ya out to be.''

It brought them a moment of shared laughter through their tears.

"What are we going to do?" Catherine asked, as she wiped her face. "You know Dale better than I do."

"Nothing we can do unless ya wanna leave Nick, and then maybe Mac will dump me and take you as his girlfriend. Or maybe he'll be so pissed that ya broke Nick's heart that he'll never speak to ya again. It could go either way. I may know him better than you, but no one can guess what Mac will do."

"That's for sure," Catherine grumbled.

"Do ya WANT to leave Nick?"

"NO," Catherine answered immediately. "I love him, Annie. I really do. With Dale .... it's different. It's like he's under my skin .... like a disease now. But I won't let myself fall in love with him. I can't! He's ... he's horrible! ... Cruel!"

"I think it's too late."

Catherine's eyes flared in anger. "No! It's not! I LOVE NICK! I know I do! I can't imagine not being with him!"

"But can ya also not imagine ever feeling Mac touch ya again?"

"Oh God!" she cried her answer, as her face fell into her hands. Catherine honestly felt that she would whither away and die if Dale McKussic never touched her again.

"Catherine, I know that to someone like you, what Mac's done sounds twisted. But it really isn't, not from the way Mac is probably seeing it. He's just doing what he wants, like he always does. He wants YOU. And I'd bet my life on it that he even felt this way before ya gave him your cherry."

"Yes, I think he did," Catherine agreed, remembering their earliest interactions.

"Mac knows he can't REALLY have ya unless he wants to hurt Nick, and nothing in the world will make him do that. So instead he's made sure ya know how he feels about ya, doing what he wants in that way, because he knows that although ya don't ACT like ya want to . ya really do ... right?"

Mournfully, Catherine nodded once again, knowing how her body responded to him and only him in that impassioned mind-numbing way.

"So, TECHNICALLY," Annie continued. "Mac is getting what he wants in one way, giving ya what ya want too, but he's not really hurting Nick."

"Still twisted," Catherine frowned, not at all liking it although she could follow the logic of it. "But thank you, Annie, for being a friend and understanding."

"How can I not, Catherine?" Annie laughed softly. "It's Mac we're talking about. If there was a cure for this disease, I'd run straight to the fucking doctor for it myself."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Close to a half-hour passed before the women headed back into the living room with puffy eyes and tear-stained cheeks. Mac immediately stood, opening his arms to Annie, as he couldn't help feeling slightly worried about what they had been talking about in there for so long. -- Probably me. Bet Cat told her everything. --

A questioning glance was even thrown at Catherine, hoping for some sign of an answer, but Catherine, having gained strength from the 'girl talk', kept her face cool and expressionless, as she walked over to Nick. It was so different than usual, that Annie smiled at her new friend before walking into Mac's arms and letting him kiss her.

"You OK?" he asked, honestly concerned for her especially now that he'd decided to keep her around.

"Sure. Just helping Catherine with her ... wound," she answered in a way that made Mac narrow his eyes.

-- Yeah, she knows everything. -- "Cool?" he whispered in her ear. -- Better be or we're all in big trouble. --

"Do I have any choice?" she whispered back, although she already knew the answer.

"Of course ya do. Ya know where the door is," he replied in a way that reminded her they had no ties. Annie was free to do what she wanted. Mac wasn't holding her back in any way.

With a weary sigh, she made the only choice her heart had. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Your choice," he shrugged and planted another kiss on her lips.

Chapter 11

A few quiet days went by and Catherine couldn't leave well enough alone. Knowing that Nick would be late getting home one night, she decided that it was high time she went on the offensive and confronted Mac on what had happened. -- I'll just go right over there and tell him I don't want him coming over anymore. If he wants to see Nick, they better do it without me around! --

His dorm door was open, and she walked in to see him sitting shirtless in front of his laptop, typing away while smoking a joint. "We need to talk," she called curtly.

At the sound of her voice, he jumped noticeably and his cock twitched, but he didn't bother to turn around. "How's the neck?" he asked while finishing his typing and then taking a long toke.

"I want you to stay away from me," she stated to his back, unable to see what he had typed on the screen.

Slowly he closed the laptop, swung the chair around and looked up at her, raising his eyebrow in disbelief. "Really? I don't think ya want that," he disagreed, as he stood to step close to her. "Your body," and his eyes lowered knowingly to her groin, "is already telling me right now that ya don't want that."

Catherine immediately backed up a step, and Mac moved even closer, but instead of touching her like she expected, he walked right around her, as the corner of his mouth curled in amusement and he closed and locked his dorm door. "Get in bed," he ordered from behind her while the twitch he had felt began to throb into full arousal.

"No," she squeaked and turned around to face him. "I just want to talk."

His eyes held her in place like nails, as he stepped even closer. "Ya want me to make ya? Is that what ya want? Believe me, I can do that too. But I can smell ya, Cat, MY Cat trying to lie to me. Ya can't lie to me. Ya can lie to Nick, but not me. Never me."

As he spoke, his face moved closer and closer to hers until his lips touched her cheek and his hand brushed back her hair. Down his lips traveled softly to kiss her neck and then to run his tongue over the mark that was no longer bandaged, although still quite sore. His touch melted her resolve, and she sighed with pleasure in arms that leaned her back onto the bed.

Then, he stopped.

Lying quietly on her back, waiting with both trepidation and excitement, she watched him crouch on his haunches and look down at her with a thoughtful expression on his face. Mac was trying to decide just how much of him Catherine could take, as he didn't want to hurt her, but he wanted her badly. If she had stayed silent, things might have happened differently, but right above his head she saw empty space, and remembering what had been there and now suddenly wasn't, made her laugh. "Did Annie make you take it down?"

Big mistake.

A lip that could curl in amusement pulled back in a mean cast at hearing her laugh at him. "NO ONE makes me do anything," he sneered, as he roughly turned her over onto her stomach without warning.

"What are you .... ?" she started to ask, feeling a tremor of worry lance through her.

"Shut up," he ordered and threw himself heavily onto her back, as he swiftly shrugged his jeans off.

Seconds later his hands pushed up her skirt, completely ripped her panties off and spread her legs. It was enough to make Catherine squirm with pleasure when one hand dipped high between her legs, but it was not enough for her to ignore the warning telling her that Mac was about to do something very shocking to her again.

"Dale, please. I've never ..," she tried to tell him, although she couldn't find the words to complete it.

"Never what?" he murmured near her ear. "Never been fucked in the ass?"

"Bastard!" she hissed indignantly, twisting her head to see him. "You and Nick tell each other everything. You know we haven't!"

"You're right," he grinned down at her like the Mad Hatter, making that tremor of worry turn into a large knot of fear. "I know you're still cherry there."

"Why?" she asked in a way that sounded more like a sob.

"Because .. I .. can," he said very clearly followed by a running of his tongue around her ear. "And because ya want me to and because I promised myself I wouldn't ....."

"Wouldn't what?" she questioned at hearing the sudden hesitation in his voice.

"You know." He didn't want to say it. He didn't want to say the hated words that felt right to him now, words that he had never once remotely felt like using for any other woman, words that he wanted to deny, but couldn't.

"Tell me, Dale." Catherine desperately needed to hear it. Desperately needed to gain back even the slightest measure of control. She hated herself for NEEDING to cheat on Nick with Mac, but she would hate herself even more if she felt that Mac was only doing it for sex and nothing more.

"Wouldn't .... wouldn't," he stumbled at the foreign words, "make love to you again .... Bitch." And for making him say it, he nipped her ear just hard enough to make her cry out in pain.

It did the trick, though. She relaxed as much as she could at knowing what was going to happen, and his hand moved harder on her to bring out moisture and massage it around her backside.

"Want me to stop?" he asked, as he kissed her flushed cheek.

"Yes," she moaned while her bottom pushed in need against his hand.

"Liar," he grinned and shoved a finger deep into her.

"DALE!" she cried in shock at being entered there for the first time. But as Mac massaged gently, yet firmly the virgin passage, she continued to push back for more.

"Ya want me to stop?" he asked again.

"Yes," she groaned.

"Bitch," ... followed by a second finger.

This time Catherine's body tightened in true pain, crying out, but she immediately relaxed again when Mac began to slowly move them in and out while his other hand worked harder between her legs. Feeling her ready, he pulled his hand away just long enough to cover himself in her slickness, as he asked for a third time, "Ya want me to stop?"

"Nooooo," she cried loudly while her bottom pumped against his two fingers.

"That's better, My Cat," he smiled, removed his fingers, and very gently pushed the head in. Hurting her was the last thing he wanted to do.

Unfortunately, no matter how hard Mac tried to prepare her, nothing could really help, not for a first time, especially with a man of his size. The moment she felt him penetrate, Catherine made a second, much worse mistake. She immediately screamed sharply, "NICK!!"

It snapped Mac's already fragile control at hearing her cry for another man, and he fell onto her, roaring with pleasure, as one hand covered her mouth and the other pulled her flailing arms high over her head.

"Jesus Cat! I'm sorry!" he gasped next to her ear, as she bucked in muffled agony beneath him. "Don't move! Stop moving! You're making it worse for yourself! Shit!"

His body was on fire, pushing down heavily to try to prevent her from struggling while at the same time fighting with himself and his urgent need to thrust wildly. Catherine was experiencing her own brand of fire; she was in so much pain that she thought for sure she was going to die. Another minute passed, more like an eternity to Catherine, and her struggles finally began to lessen, although tears ran down his hand onto the pillow.

Mac sighed in relief for her sake, and in return kissed away her tears. "Don't scream, OK?" he said after another minute and lessened his grip over her mouth.

At a quick nod from her, the hand was hesitantly removed, Catherine took in a deep breath, and Mac KNEW ... * SMACK * he covered it again, just barely strangling the scream she was about to let loose.

Her head fell in total defeat at that, and the tears she was still feeling dried and were replaced with immense anger and sadness at what he had done to her. Catherine couldn't believe how much it still hurt, but there wasn't a thing she could do about it. Sensing true submission, the hand was removed completely this time, and he even released her arms in order to slide one hand down between her body and the mattress while using the other hand to lift some of his weight off her. Mac was trying very hard to reach a very specific spot in hopes to make it better for her.

The moment he touched it, Catherine moaned helplessly, and the agonizing pain suddenly started to shift into something else entirely. Mac hadn't dared move his body yet. Hearing her moans helped him to focus only on making her relax more and more until she finally began to push up and down on his hand, which, in turn, made him moan, himself, at feeling them moving together in unison.

"Ohhhhh Cat," he groaned while his fingers worked furiously for her, and he very slowly pulled back for the first time.

The shifting from pain to pleasure continued, as Mac lifted almost entirely out, and then, quaking with restraint, lowered himself back down as gently as he could. It was killing him, but he had already screwed up once by losing control when she had cried out for Nick, and he wasn't about to let it happen again.

His restraint held in place, moving so very slow for her sake, that Catherine soon no longer cared about the lingering pain and only wanted more of the burning delight. She moaned again, not just from his hand that time, and her hips thrusted back against his, seeking a deeper joining.

It was the signal he had been waiting for, and Mac let loose the way his body truly demanded. His hips slammed hard and deep, and Catherine eagerly continued to thrust back and then forward onto the hand that never left her center. Only minutes passed before Mac tensed, and wanting Catherine to join him in that way, he pinched her clit as hard as he could while his mouth fastened onto her still tender neck and sucked fiercely at the skin that slid between his lips.

It did her in, just like he had expected it would. Catherine buried her face into the pillow to muffle her scream, Mac kept his face buried into her neck to muffle his own scream, and her body spasmed violently around the load that he shot into her raw bleeding ass.

When he could finally move again, he rolled off to lie on his back next to her. Mac was as emotionally and physically drained as he could possibly be from a simple sexual act with a woman. He never wanted to move again. He was suddenly experiencing a calm that no amount of pot would ever give him, and he sure didn't want it to end.

Catherine did. But as she laid trembling with pain, pleasure and humiliation, her face deliberately turned in the opposite direction, she just didn't know how to go about bringing that end. Every muscle in her body ached, her heart ached for Nick, and her mind ached for her defeated pride, but Catherine just couldn't shake the feeling that she would ache even worse inside if she were to never feel this man within her again.

Listening to him finally slow his heavy breathing down, as he shifted closer to her, she struggled to stay focused on the room in front of her eyes. Catherine needed desperately to ground herself in reality before she gave in even further and found herself rolling over. She could almost see herself begging him for more, and it was a sight she never wanted to come true.

Just what she needed to prevent that came to her attention, although, for a moment, she wasn't sure if it made her feel almost proud or even MORE humiliated. Mac had just rolled over onto his side, and he was stroking one hand lightly from the curve of her ass down to her knee, when Catherine spoke. "Does it work for you?" she asked very quietly, as goosebumps rose under his fingertips.

"Huh?" he said, snapped out of his daze of watching in satisfaction the sight of his cum running onto his bed. It was as if he had filled her to overflowing, and it made him swell with pride, although he winced in deep sympathy at seeing a fair amount of blood along with it.

"My poster," she answered, nodding in its direction. "Does it work for you when you're screwing Annie or spanking yourself?"

Sympathy vanished. "CUNT!" he shouted and pushed her roughly out of the bed to land with a thud on the floor.

Catherine didn't care. He confirmed the answer she already knew, and she knew that she should have expected that kind of reaction from him. With a shake of her head, she stood without so much as looking at him, carefully pushed her skirt back down and left the room. It was then she allowed herself to break down. The moment she closed his door, she ran down the hallway into the girl's bathroom and fell to the floor sobbing hysterically.

Mac didn't care either. He simply stared at the door in surprise that it hadn't been slammed and then reached down to the floor to place her torn wet panties onto his pillow and fall fast asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Neither of them realized that a witness had been in the hallway, a witness who had been waiting to see what girl would come out of Mac's room. Annie had gone to the door and turned the handle, and she had been very surprised to find it locked, something it rarely ever was. Naturally, she had gone to knock, but it never happened when the sounds of a squeaking bed, a woman moaning and Mac groaning in a way she'd never quite heard from him before, had reached her ears.

-- But there's no rubber band on the doorknob! -- And at that thought, her heart had broke so much that Mac forgot to do that little thing to spare her feelings, that she just couldn't listen anymore, and down the hallway she had run to wait.

When Catherine had eventually come out, Annie hadn't been sure if she wanted to cry with anger or relief, but seeing that the woman was limping as though in pain, she had come to the conclusion that she should follow her down the hallway to the bathroom and see if she needed help.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Catherine couldn't stop crying, lying like a baby on the floor, and she didn't even notice when Annie quietly walked in and then ran to her side. In Annie's arms, she sobbed her eyes out over what Mac had just done to her, and Annie felt nothing more than sympathy for her friend. She just couldn't bring herself to see the woman as her enemy when she knew they were both victims in the silent war that Mac was waging.

"Catherine, here's some ointment that will help the pain."

"Ointment?" Catherine looked up at seeing Annie pull something from her backpack. "Do you use it after .. after you and Dale .. that way?"

"No," Annie smiled regretfully. "Not with Mac. He tried once, but it hurt too much 'cuz of his size so he stopped and never tried again. I've used it with other guys. Works pretty good. You'll feel better tomorrow."

"Thanks, Annie. I think I'd go insane if I didn't have someone to talk to about this."

"Believe me, I know what ya mean."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After walking Catherine to her car and embracing tightly one more time, Annie did the only thing she could. She went back to Mac's room, stripped down, dutifully ignored the panties next to his face and climbed into bed beside him.

Hours later, Mac woke, knew instantly that it was Annie sleeping on top of him and tenderly kissed the top of her head to wake her up for sex. When her head turned to face him, he smiled hopefully, kissed her nose and then moved, as she watched, the panties under his bed.

Chapter 12

The mark eventually healed to only a scar. However, Catherine, who was wearing her hair down to cover it, soon discovered that she couldn't decide how she should continue to wear her hair. In the past, the men had both made it known they preferred it down, and she, of course, had preferred the ease of wearing it pulled back most of the time.

She was fiddling with it in the living room mirror, when Mac walked out of the kitchen after Nick had just left for a beer run to the store. "Wear it back," he said, coming up behind her. "I wanna see my mark now. Don't need to hide it."

He didn't touch her, although she could feel his warm breath on the back of her neck. Gathering what little strength she had, she stared only in the mirror and said, "No," as she dropped her hair back down to cover it.

Mac's face didn't even change expression. Only his eyes betrayed his outrage at her defiance, leaving Catherine no chance to react. He had her head pulled back by the hair, exposing her throat, while he growled into her ear. "WHAT did you say?"

"I said NO!" she spat at him, as she clenched her teeth to fight from giving him the satisfaction of feeling her try to pull her head back up. Catherine would let Mac hold her there all day before she'd let him feel her panic.

Mac had no intention of drawing it out. He was stronger, and he was going to remind her. "Dale!" she suddenly gasped in shock, as his mouth clamped down over the front of her throat in a strangle-like hold.

"I'm sorry ... please!" Panic she couldn't hold back this time filled her. She could breath, but he was applying slow pressure, and she wasn't entirely sure just how far he would go.

Not far at all. He immediately released her entirely, hoping he had made his point. Mac just wanted Catherine to fear him a little, as it was the only way he felt that he could keep himself in control of the situation. It was far too important to him to be the one in control, not just because of his feelings for Nick, but also for his own feelings and the tenuous hold on sanity he knew he had where it came to this specific woman. Keeping her off balance made sense to him, but he hoped she knew that he would never truly harm her no matter what.

She turned around to face him and forced herself to smile in a way she was sure would distract him. It did. His eyebrow raised, and he wondered if she were going to kiss him. He could sense she was wary but turned on, and Catherine was counting on that.

"FUCKING BITCH!" he shrieked and fell to the ground. Catherine had rammed her knee as hard as she could into his groin.

Nature winced in sympathy. At this rate, the two would never follow the plan imprinted in their genes.

Catherine wasn't wincing at all. She stared down at his agony with a smirk on her face, pulled her hair back the way he wanted and walked away, having finally made her own point in the twisted game they were playing. -- Yes, you own me, you bastard, but you're not always going to get your way THAT easily. --

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mac, knowing then that he was losing control of Catherine, deliberately stayed away from her again for a while, making sure to come up with excuses to meet with Nick elsewhere. He wanted time away, time to calm down and time to decide how best to proceed with what he couldn't stop completely. There was no doubt in his mind that it would proceed, but if Catherine was going to remain defiant in the face of what he knew she truly wanted, he had to come up with a new plan.

The afternoon came when Mac, thinking they were both in class at the academy, slipped the lock on their door to look for a certain book of his that he needed back for his own class that evening. "DALE!" Catherine stood in shock at seeing him break into their home so easily. "Get out! How dare you!"

"Fuck off," he snapped, as he headed to their bedroom after a brief glance at the movie she was watching. "Just looking for something Nick has of mine. Go back to playing with yourself to that loser ya like so much."

"Jealous?" she grinned, although she immediately shut off the Lethal Weapon movie.

"Oh yeah," he droned sarcastically from the hallway. "Like you'd leave me and Nick for that old geezer with seven kids."

Catherine wanted to chuckle, but seeing him waltz right into her bedroom stopped the laughter. "Hey!" she cried, following him in. "You can't just walk in here when you feel like it and go through our things!"

"It's half Nick's room," he responded, not even bothering to look at her as he began checking the bookcase. "He doesn't care if I go through his shit anymore than I care if he goes through mine. So get your ass back in the living room and leave me the hell alone."

She should have. But if Mac was one to be impulsive and unpredictable, Catherine was one to be stubborn.

"NO!"

His head swung, and he crossed the room to slam her up against the wall, pinning her neck with one hand while the other pushed into her stomach and held her wrists together in front of her. "Don't even think about kneeing me again, you bitch," he snarled, "or I might just snap your neck by accident."

She knew he wouldn't. Spittle flew from her mouth onto his face, and Mac's control snapped. Instead of yelling at her like she had expected, or releasing her to wipe it off his face, he released her, but it was to deliver a ringing slap across her face. Mac had crossed the line.

Her eyes widened in horror, followed only a split second later by his. Mac had never once in his life struck a woman, and, until Catherine, no woman had ever struck or spit at him, except for his mother. His mother had done it just as often as his father had, and Mac had never dared raise a hand to defend himself against either of them after the one and only time he had as a young teen. It was a time he never forgot, as they had both beat him so badly for showing defiance that he hadn't been able to get out of bed for days. And now that memory was rushing through him at knowing he had finally sunk to the same level. All the recent years spent fighting the ghosts of his past, and he had just let himself surrender to his demons and hurt someone that had become an angel of hope to him.

It made him sick inside, and he hissed in breath at seeing the horrifed look on her face, as he quickly turned away from her in shame and torment.

Catherine was no angel. She had had enough, and Mac went down on the floor beneath her, as she punched him over and over as hard as she could. At first Mac tried his best not to fight back, to take what she threw at him, but Catherine had many months of police training under her belt by then, and he eventually found that he had to at least defend himself or end up unconscious.

"KNOCK IT OFF," came a roar from near the door, and Catherine and Mac froze at seeing Nick staring down at them in fury.

"I can't take his crap anymore, Nick!" Catherine cried, kicked Mac in the shin once more for good measure and quickly ran to stand behind Nick.

Mac groaned, limped to his feet, and with his eyes only on Nick, readied himself to fight his best friend for the first time if the man decided to attack him. There was no question in Mac's mind that if their positions had been reversed, he would have killed any man who had been found rolling around on the floor with Catherine, no matter what they had been doing.

Nick, however, knowing their animosity towards each other, had no desire to attack Mac. He could see that Catherine was fine while Mac was the one who looked like hell warmed over. "Do you think I'm completely blind?" he shouted at them both.

Nature held it's breath expectantly.

"I'm sick of it!" he continued. "The fucking tension between you two is thick enough to cut with a knife! Stop the fucking bullshit now or I'm taking an extended vacation from BOTH of you!"

"Nick," they cried in a tone of disbelief, but his hands went up, and he stormed out of the room, leaving them to stare at each other in shock.

"I'm not losing him," came next, as if they could read each other's minds, and Catherine followed behind the man she loved, while Mac fell back to the floor, his book forgotten.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Surprisingly, what Nick said worked .... for a while. The four of them spent time hanging out, and Mac behaved himself, letting Annie pamper him like she wanted and not even bothering to sleep with other girls anymore. The days of rubber band messages were over. If he wasn't going to let himself take Catherine away from Nick, he was going to force himself to stick with just one girl, the one who annoyed him the least.

Annie and Catherine began to rub off on each other a little during these weeks. Catherine reached a point where she was willing to let Annie help her pick out sexier type clothing, and Annie let Catherine show her how to soften her hair and make-up. The girl even began to wear a bra and panties occasionally.

It didn't go unnoticed by Mac. He knew what was happening, but deciding it wasn't worth arguing about, he conceded to himself that the little changes in Annie really did make her even more attractive in a less slutty way, and he was certainly a man who appreciated beauty. The line was drawn, though, when he noticed one day in the drugstore that Annie was letting her hair grow out and considering using a golden hair dye similar to Catherine's color. With just a few firm words, he made it known that her hair had better stay short; short and anything but gold, or she could find a new boyfriend. Annie immediately put down the dye and chose her usual shade.

Unfortunately, she crossed the line once more when she pulled out a bottle of perfume in the car and spritzed some on, making Mac almost run off the road at picking up the scent that Catherine always wore. He didn't say a word that time. In one motion the bottle was grabbed from her hand and thrown out the window, and as soon as they got back to the dorm, he marched her right into the shower to wash it off before he'd come near her with one of the new glow-in-the-dark condoms he had bought.

In regards to sex, Annie eagerly shared with Catherine special tricks to use on Nick in bed to surprise him with, and Catherine happily reported back to her on how perfectly they all worked. In time, Catherine was even able, after a few glasses of wine and a whole lot of lube, to relax enough one night to have anal sex with Nick, and although she didn't orgasm like she had with Mac, it wasn't entirely unpleasant, and she was very happy that it made Nick so happy.

The two continued to make love, almost every day, and Catherine found it wonderful, although she wasn't able to find release every single time and had yet to experience a multiple orgasm. Nick was just so good to her, wonderfully attentive and willing to do and try anything for her, that it made her want to be just as open and willing to try anything for him, everthing except that one last thing. He finally worked up the courage to ask her, knowing she didn't like the idea of it, but she just couldn't bring herself to even try, and he decided to drop the matter and be happy with everything else.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After so much time passed of everyone getting along together and no further 'problems' between Mac and Catherine, the policeman's ball came, just after Nick had broken a leg in training that day. "Catherine, you HAVE to go. It's for charity, and, besides, you already bought the gown and shoes I helped you pick out. I want to see you all dressed up in them. You'll be the most beautiful
woman there."

"No," she crossed her arms, although she was quite disappointed. "I'm not going without a date."

"Not a problem," he smiled. "Mac can take you."

"Ohhhh NO!" she cried in horror. "I'm not letting a drug dealer take me to the policeman's ball!"

They went back and forth at it for a while until Nick eventually wore her down, not wanting her to miss out because of him. "It really WILL make me happy that ONE of us gets to go. And don't be angry with me, Honey, but Mac is already on his way in a rented tux to do this for me."

-- Dale in a tux? -- she couldn't help but try to picture the image in her head. "Fine," she snapped, feeling backed into a corner now. "But I'm NOT dancing with him!"

"Fine by me," Nick quickly agreed, picturing his own image of them dancing together and not particularly liking it.

Before Catherine had time to change her mind, Mac showed up on the doorstep looking quite dashing in his tux. So dashing, in fact, that it almost took Catherine's breath away. His normally unruly hair was combed very neatly, he was quite clean-shaven, and he was holding out a lovely corsage for her. Mac had immediately answered with a very emphatic 'no' when Nick had asked him only hours before, but it had taken little time for him to reconsider and agree to take Catherine to the ball.

"Ya look nice," he said, as he looked her up and down and tried to appear casual. What he really wanted to say was that she was the most fucking beautiful creature he'd ever seen.

She sure was, and with her hair all pinned up around her head, Mac couldn't keep his eyes from wandering to that special spot on her neck. "Didn't know you owned a comb, Dale," she retorted at seeing where he was looking.

It didn't bother him; it actually helped him, and he snorted with laughter, as she grabbed the corsage from him and ran back to her room to finish getting ready. The gown she was wearing was still unzipped in the back, and Catherine had not been able to get it up all the way by herself.

"Nick?" she called loudly, momentarily forgetting that he was temporarily immobile.

"He's asleep on the couch," Mac informed her by sticking his head into the room after knocking once. "Painkillers must have finally kicked in."

"Shoot ... I ... I need help."

"With the corsage? Sure, I can pin it for ya."

"No, not just that," she replied hesitantly and slowly turned to expose her back to him.

"Ohhhh," he nodded with understanding and carefully zipped her up.

"Thanks," she murmured at watching him in the mirror close his eyes, lean down and inhale her perfume.

"You're welcome," he sighed, opened his eyes and let his finger trail gently across the scar.

That was enough for Catherine. She pulled away in fear of what would happen if she didn't. "I .. I . can handle the corsage. Check on Nick, please?"

At the mention of Nick's name during a rejection of his touch, Catherine expected Mac to turn angry, but once again he surprised her by instead turning big blue sorrowful eyes on her before leaving the room. -- Just when I thought I've finally figured him out. --

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It happened again only a few minutes later when Mac held open the door of his car for her. "What the heck is going on?" she asked him once he had the engine started.

"Nothing, Cat," he answered very quietly with his eyes staying on the road. "Look ... I'm not really some kinda monster. Really. I .. I got carried away ... I'm sorry." -- Oh god I am! You just drive me so insane sometimes I don't know what to do! --

Not only did Catherine not know what to say to this revelation, she didn't even know what to THINK. It was the last thing she expected to hear from this man. "Thank you, Dale," she spoke after a minute of silence. "And about what happened when I .. when I ... Well, I'm sorry too for hurting your ..... you know."

"Yeah," he laughed at the memory and glanced over at her. "Ya sure hurt my boys alright. Haven't had that happen since high school gym class. But it's cool, Cat ... Annie took care of 'em for me."

-- I'm sure she did, -- Catherine couldn't help thinking. "Annie doesn't mind you taking me to the party for Nick?"

"Well, yeah, probably," he shrugged. "But I promised to make it up to her when I get back. Plus, I'm gonna take her somewhere nice next weekend, just the two of us."

"That's good. Annie deserves it." -- She does. I have no right to feel jealous.

--

"Yeah, I know," he agreed, and his eyes deliberately went back to the road to be able to say what was really on his mind. "You're not leaving Nick. Don't want ya to. It would kill him."

"I know," she sighed and turned to look out the window to be able to convince herself she was making the right choice. "I won't leave him."

And with that mutual decision out in the open finally, the rest of the ride was spent in silence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the ball he surprised her again by offering her his arm and pulling out her chair at the table. Small talk commenced, and Catherine had to admit to herself that Mac knew how to lay on the sophisticated charm when he wanted to. -- And here I was worried he'd be all slouching, swearing and acting obnoxious like he usually does. Guess I have to give him credit. Too bad he didn't cut his hair too, but I guess that would be expecting too much from a man like him. --

As the evening went on, Catherine found herself being asked by her fellow female graduating cadets in the bathroom all about the very handsome man who was her date. Everyone knew, of course, that Nick had been hurt earlier that day in training.

"Just a friend of Nick's," she casually replied. "Nick didn't want me to miss the ball, so he asked Dale to bring me."

"Is he single?" was eagerly asked next.

"NO," Catherine said firmer than she planned to, as she headed out the door, not entirely sure if she was thinking of Annie or herself.

On the way through the rest area alcove to the banquet room, she noticed a group of men in a dark corner hunched around Mac. -- OH MY GOD! -- She wanted to scream at him, -- Don't sell drugs HERE! -- And with furious indignation, she stormed back to the table, informed the other guests that she didn't know where her date was and asked them to inform him when he showed up that she had taken a cab home because she wasn't feeling well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not fifteen minutes after the cab dropped her off at home, Mac showed up, very worried.

"Christ Cat! I wasn't hard to find, you coulda told me yourself you were sick instead of leaving me there," he snapped sarcastically when she opened the door and appeared to be fine.

"Be quiet! Nick's asleep! Go back to selling to the cops," she hissed at him and tried to close the door.

"Fuck you," he growled and shoved his foot into the door. "I sell wherever I fucking want, and I left a buncha good customers because I was worried about your stuck-up ass."

"Worry about yourself," she snapped back full of contempt. "You make me sick, Dale. I'm going to be a cop very soon so you better start watching your back."

"You wouldn't fucking dare," he snarled and stepped very close to her.

"Try me, Dale," she taunted him, knowing he was just trying to intimidate her. "You just try me."

"Catherine?" Nick called out groggily. "You home?"

"I'm coming, Nick!" she answered over her shoulder loudly. When she looked back, Mac was already peeling out of the driveway.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning she immediately told Nick about what Mac had been doing at the ball, but instead of being outraged like her, Nick found it quite humorous. "Mac has the biggest set I know. Only he would sell to cops around a bunch of other cops."

"It's NOT funny, Nick," she pouted. "Next month we're graduating. What are you going to do then?"

"Nothing, Catherine," he laughed easily. "Lots of other people to bust for drugs than Mac selling pot. It's no big deal."

"Yes it is," she insisted and walked away. -- Why is he so stubborn? Am I the ONLY person who can see the trouble Dale is going to cause us all some day? We're all going to suffer for that man's lack of judgment. --

How right she was.

CHAPTER 13

Graduation day came and Mac and Annie showed up in support of their friends. Proud hugs were passed around, except between Mac and Catherine, and Catherine found that she couldn't care less anymore if he ignored her or not like he had taken to doing lately. Nick was just glad that the days of tension and arguing between the two seemed to be over. As long as they continued to get along together, even by not hardly speaking, he was willing to let it go and be blissfully ignorant of the occasional looks that Mac couldn't completely control.

As a graduation gift for them, Mac had bought and paid for a surprise trip for four to Mexico. Catherine, of course, wanted to refuse it, not at all wanting to take a single dime of Mac's drug money, but Nick had never been to Mexico, like she had, and he really wanted to go and relax after so much time spent studying.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The up-scale Mexican resort was absolutely beautiful. Mac had rented them two large rooms next door to each other, and the area featured numerous indoor and outdoor activities along with the perfect vacation weather for tourists. A week was spent enjoying everything offered with Mac still managing to keep his emotions under control. It was torturous for him, but he was determined to give it his best shot before falling back like a coward on one last option that would hurt him even more.

All that pent up emotion needed to vent eventually, however, and it came out in a very unexpected way one night at dinner. The night was like any other, fine food and drinks in a nice restaurant, but this night something caught everyone's eyes, something that made them all quite uncomfortable.

At a nearby table they spotted a man having dinner with a young boy, apparently his son, although the man wasn't acting very fatherly. He was acting downright cruel by excessively criticizing, belittling, and swearing at the child. It upset them all, and they looked around the restaurant to see if anyone else felt the same way. As usual, though, people tended to mind their own business where child rearing was involved, especially when the man wasn't actually physically abusing the child or causing a commotion. He had the appearance and confidence of a man who knew exactly what he could get away with in public, and the child had the appearance and resigned look of having been on the receiving end of it often.

What the other diners thought didn't matter one whit to Mac. It was still abuse in his eyes, and his eyes just couldn't sit still and watch it happen. "Mac," Nick whispered urgently while he gripped his friend's arm to keep his attention. "He might be Mexican. We're in another country, his country. Don't do anything stupid. I know it sucks, but at least he's not hitting the kid or you know I'd back you up on this."

"Son of a bitch," Mac mumbled and looked away when the man poked the child in the chest to make a point in his tirade.

An hour passed and Nick's grip finally relaxed on Mac's arm as the father winded down and let his kid eat in peace. Nick knew if he hadn't spoken up and held onto his friend as a reminder, that Mac would have likely torn the man apart right in the middle of the restaurant. An unprovoked attack by a young American on a Mexican family ... well, Nick was quite sure that would have gone over badly with the local authorities.

"Need to take a leak," Mac suddenly announced, as they were just finishing dessert, and off he headed to the bathroom while no one thought anything of it.

Minutes later there followed a very loud crash from the restroom area. Not another noise was heard, but Mac sauntered out with a smile in place while the abusive father soon limped out dripping with water and a large bloody gash on his forehead. The Maitre D' ran up to his injured patron immediately to offer assistance, but the man took one more look at Mac, shook his head and hurriedly explained that he had only slipped and was fine.

Catherine, Nick and Annie jumped to their feet, Nick threw money on the table, and they hurried out of the restaurant and didn't dare laugh about it until they were safely back in their rooms. Mac was a hero in their eyes for finding a way to deal with it without causing a scene in public, but Mac didn't feel like a hero at all. He was smiling and laughing with them, but he knew that eventually the father would forget all about the psycho gringo and go back to his abusive ways. The child had only been given a respite; it wouldn't last. He would either break completely or grow strong like Mac had one day, and there was nothing more Mac could do about it. He knew that and accepted it, but it didn't make it any easier for him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

His thoughts still somber, he spent the next day hanging on a surfboard in the water while Nick and Annie lounged on the beach and Catherine swam nearby. Even seeing Annie in her new skimpy bikini and Catherine in her new modest but very nice one-piece didn't improve his mood. He was feeling depressed, angry and downright melancholy, and he knew the incident the night before wasn't the real reason. Things were coming to a head for him internally, and he knew he didn't have much time left.

"DALE!!" Catherine suddenly screamed when a current pulled her under and she managed to break the surface just once.

"CAT/CATHERINE!" the three screamed back, as Mac jumped off his board and dove into the area she was in. Nick and Annie were still too far away, swimming out to help, but it was all up to Mac if Catherine was going to stand a chance.

He held his breath, diving once more trying to find her, and on that second attempt he would have let himself drown rather than come up for air alone. -- THANK YOU GOD! -- he thought at seeing her motionless body sinking into darker waters, and with a burst of will, his lungs held out just long enough to bring her to the surface with him.

The moment Nick reached him, he handed her over and dragged himself to the beach, gasping for breath, himself, and with Annie placing an arm around his waist, he watched silently as Nick administered CPR, while they all prayed that Mac had found her in time. Catherine was lucky, though. If Mac hadn't been nearby in the water, she never would have survived. In moments Nick had her coughing and throwing up seawater, and as soon as she could, she was sitting up into his arms and crying her thanks that he had saved her life.

Mac just looked away and walked back into the water.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The day went on and Mac took off for a while alone and then later with Nick, and when evening came, Catherine found herself sitting on the beach with just Annie, who was beginning to cry. "What did Dale do now?" Catherine asked. -- If he's seeing other women again, I'm going to bust his ass this time! --

He wasn't and Annie knew that, although she cried even harder at the new problem she faced. "Not Mac's fault. MY fault . M m m my period is late."

-- Dale? A baby? With Annie? NOOOO! -- Catherine raged in her mind, but somehow kept herself sane while Annie explained what happened. "Ya know I'm on The Pill and Mac uses condoms, but last month he was really drunk and didn't notice something I did. He took it off and there was a hole in it!"

"But I don't understand. If you're on The Pill, you should be pretty safe from pregnancy even without the condom."

"That's what I thought! But I think I fucked up! It was the week of Finals, and I missed two days in a row taking pills and had to double up twice to get back on track. I'm a whole WEEK late now for my period!"

"Only a week?" Catherine tried to reassure her. "That's not bad. I was often much later than that before I went on The Pill."

"But Catherine," she started sobbing. "I'm NEVER late! NEVER! EVER! I can't have Mac's baby! He'll kill me!"

"Shhhhh shhhh shhhh, no he won't, it'll be ok, shhhh shhhh," Catherine held her tight and soothed her friend with empty but well-meaning words of comforts. "First thing tomorrow morning we'll go to a store and buy a pregnancy test. I'm sure we can find one here."

"Please don't tell Mac or Nick," Annie cried while Catherine reluctantly agreed, although images of kicking Mac's balls straight up into his head went through her mind at the possibility that he had made another woman pregnant.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When the men finally appeared on the sunset darkening beach, Annie had stopped crying, and feeling a little better about Catherine's outward calm and willingness to help her find out for sure the next day, she immediately fell into her party-girl personality around Mac.

That was great for him, as he was quite drunk and stoned, but Nick, being in the same state of mind, didn't find a welcoming committee in Catherine. She took one whiff of the marijuana on him, as he tried to kiss her, and let him have it. "You told me you stopped!" she cried, as Mac and Annie giggled at Nick's predicament and ran off to play on the beach together.

"I did!" he laughed. "Months ago, for you. This is nothing, Catherine. One joint with Mac. Been so uptight with school all year I think I earned it. Don't make something huge out of it, Honey. OK? I just want to relax as much as I can on vacation before we start our jobs. Everything will go back to normal as soon as we're home, I promise."

"Fine," she snapped and sat back down on the beach chair with a huff. Catherine was furious, but she really did believe him that he had stopped long ago and was just going back to a bad habit while on vacation, a vacation with Mac. -- I'm sure he badgered Nick into it. Look at him out there rolling around, laughing and making out with Annie in the sand. Looks so happy, not a care in the world. I almost hope you DID make her pregnant, you jerk! Then maybe you'll finally have to grow up a little and live in the real world! --

Mac was definitely about to grow up very soon, but not because of Annie ... or even Catherine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Catherine finally had enough of watching their teenage antics, she walked angrily to her room, and Nick dutifully followed behind. After taking separate showers, she was about ready to continue her lecture on the dangers of drugs when they began to overhear a fight taking place in the next room. Annie was crying loudly while telling Mac that she thought she might be pregnant.

"Oh My God!" Nick cried in shock and looked at Catherine, who decided then that she might as well just tell him everything she knew. Annie may have initially wanted to keep it quiet until she knew for sure, but her intense fear and love for Mac made her change her mind.

It would have been better if she had at least waited until he was sober. "Ya stupid cunt!" The words came right through the walls to Nick and Catherine. "Ya better not be pregnant! No fucking way am I being a father! How the hell could this have happened with TWO fucking forms of birth control? It's not mine, is it? Ya just WANT it to be mine! Who else ya been fucking, ya goddamned slut? You're going right back to him when we get home! We're fucking OVER!"

"Mac! Please!" she cried hysterically when he finally gave her a chance to answer. "Ya know I haven't slept with no one else since ya stopped sleeping around. I wouldn't do that to ya! I love ya!"

Annie had never once had the courage to actually say the words until now in desperation, and Mac froze in place at hearing them. -- GODDAMNIT TO HELL! She knows I don't love her! She knows I've always been honest with her about that kinda shit! Never led her on! Never promised her more than sex and fun! I don't deserve this! Not with Annie! I WAS CAREFUL AND I WAS HONEST! It's not my fault!

--

"FUCK!" he finally screamed in frustration and stormed out, slamming the door to go right to the hotel bar and drink again.

"I should go to him," Nick said, feeling torn between wanting to be with his best friend who was dealing with something unimaginable, and wanting badly to make up with Catherine for their own disagreement.

"Yeah, you do that, Nick. Run away to poor Dale. Smoke a couple more joints together and maybe he'll make you the baby's Godfather!" Catherine was feeling a touch of hysteria coming on, but she knew where she was truly needed. "I'm going to see Annie!"

He tried to kiss her, as he opened the door, but Catherine threw him such a cold look that he wearily shook his head in confusion at why she was taking it out on him over one measly joint and left to look for Mac.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Annie was frantic, crying over and over that she wanted to kill herself, but eventually Catherine was able to calm her down by reminding her that it was only a few more hours, and then they'd know for sure. "Besides, Annie, this really is probably just a false alarm. Stress from school maybe?"

"Yeah," she choked back more tears. "Been real stressed out trying to keep up with school and Mac. All he wants to do is party and have sex all the time."

"But I thought ..." Catherine started in confusion.

"That that was what I wanted too?" she snorted a strangled mix of tears and laughter. "Sure, most of the time I do. But he really wears me out sometimes, especially since he stopped seeing those other girls. I have like an hour to shower, dress, eat and do my homework! Not that I'm complaining, Catherine! Mac comes first. Can't be any other way with him, but I hardly get any time to sleep or study, and Mac NEVER studies, just breezes through classes getting As on every test he bothers to take and never even does homework! And half the time he skips classes and sleeps all day instead! Then he's up all night with customers coming and going, and in between business with them he wants to fuck! He's not in school trying to get good grades for a career like I am! He's just there for the hell of it! I love him, but I'm so tired and I'm afraid I'll mess up in class and flunk out!"

"Annie! No wonder your period is late! Dale is wearing you out physically and mentally. Can't you sleep in your OWN dorm room? Does Dale MAKE you sleep in his?"

"No, he doesn't, Catherine," she admitted. "That's why I can't blame him for this either. I can come and go whenever I want to. I don't think he cares one way or the other if I hang around all the time or go back to my own room. I just don't WANT to. Guess I'm afraid that if I'm not there all the time when he wants me that he'll start turning somewhere else again. I know I'm being stupid, but I just can't seem to help it with him."

"Oh, I understand," Catherine sighed, knowing exactly what she meant. "It stinks, but I understand."

"Catherine, what do ya think Mac will do if the test is positive?"

"I ... I don't know, Annie. But I don't think he'll marry you. I'm sorry." She was, for Annie's sake, but she couldn't quite bring herself to say it to her face.

"Yeah," Annie laughed sadly. "Fat chance in hell of THAT happening. He'll probably want me to get an abortion."

It brought Catherine's face right back up to Annie's. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to do," she said very firmly. Catherine may have been pro-choice, but the thought that Mac MIGHT have been the kind of man that would strong arm his girlfriend into getting an abortion totally horrified her.

"Having his baby won't make him love me."

"Annie, I don't think Dale is CAPABLE of really loving anyone .... well .... except maybe for Nick. But," she added, wanting to be honest with her friend. "I have a feeling that although having his baby may break you guys up, Dale isn't the kind of man that would forget his responsibility to his child. He was just drunk and angry at the shock of all this. He'll calm down and make sure you and the baby have everything you need. I'm sure of it. And Nick and I will help too."

"Oh God! Thank you Catherine!" she cried in gratitude. "You're probably right. Mac's a real asshole sometimes, but he wouldn't take it out on a baby. He ever talk about his childhood with you?"

"Not really. Nick has hinted it was pretty bad, though."

"That's what I think too. He won't talk to me about it either, but ya saw what he did to that guy at dinner."

"Proves he's a better man than we give him credit for. Who knows, Annie, we could be wrong and he's out buying you a ring right now. I've totally given up on guessing what Dale McKussic will do."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In time Annie cried herself to sleep, and Catherine covered her with blankets, soothed her hair one last time and stepped out into the hallway to look for Nick. After checking their room, she headed down the stairway, assuming she would find them together in the bar. Earlier, she would have, but Mac had wanted to be alone to wallow in his misery and make a decision, and he had left Nick there to wander around the hotel on his own.

About halfway down the stairwell she heard a banging sound coming from a doorway marked 'Employees Only' in both English and Spanish. Cautiously opening the door to see if someone needed help, she came practically face to face with Mac. The noise was coming from him and what he was doing. He was in the process of pushing a pretty Mexican woman up against a large washing machine while the woman moaned and clung to him for more.

END PART 14