The newly-graduated cadet sitting with his family in the corner booth directly behind Galen was talking loudly.
“And then instructor McPeeperton said, ‘Oh, and you just decided all on your own it was a good time to turn left.’”
His family laughed. The Cadet stood and gave a very convincing impersonation of Instructor McPeeperton, matching the voice and mannerisms of the Academy’s Driver’s Training instructor perfectly. “You’re in the right lane! You must be turning right!”
Galen and Tad laughed.
Spike stood, his date along with him. “Ladies and gentlemen, we must be off.”
The guests waved and said farewells. Galen shook Spike’s hand, and then Tad’s, who was leaving too. Aunts and Uncles bid farewell and Mom gave Galen a hug before leaving to her apartment. Alone, Galen waited.
Olivia came. “Wait for me outside, I’ll be there in a minute.”
Galen went out the back entrance of the bar and waited at the base of the inside stairs. Olivia came and smiled and took his hand and led him up the stairs, all the way to the third floor and into her apartment. She opened the door and gently pulled him in by the hand.
She hugged him, her bosom bulging. “Well, what do you think of my place?”
“This apartment is all yours?”
“I share it with three other bar maids. They’re still at work and won’t be here for a few minutes. But I do have my own room.”
Galen followed her into her room. Inside, she shut the door behind them and dimmed the lights and added a tinge of red.
She asked, “Have you been intimate before?”
“Sort of. Once.”
She sat on the bed and removed her shoes. “Tell me about it.”
“A couple of weeks ago I went to the red light district. I was on overnight pass and didn’t have much time.”
“And that was your first time?” She rolled her knee-high socks down and took them off.
“Yes.”
“How was it?” She stood directly in front of him and looked up into his eyes.
“Terrible. I had to do everything. What was I paying her for? All she did was complain. ‘It’s too big, it’s too hard, you’re taking too long, hurry up, please finish’ and that’s when I said, ‘you’re supposed to make me!’ and then I quit and got dressed and left.”
Olivia pressed her index finger against his lips. “Shhh. Forget about that. I’m going to show you how it’s done.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“I’m going to teach you all about it. We’re doing everything.”
Galen put his arms around her. “Okay.”
“First of all, sex begins long before the clothes come off. Put the palm of your left hand in the small of my back and pull me toward you gently. Good. Now, your right hand on the back of my neck, support my head as I tilt it back.”
Galen gazed down into her eyes, her bosom. Her mouth parted slightly.
“Now, lean in and down. Kiss me.”
Galen did, her tongue rubbing his, swirling in his mouth, then she sucked his tongue into her mouth and tickled it with hers. She pulled away. “Very good. Now relax, I’m going to get undressed. You too, while you watch me. Then we’ll get back to kissing.”
Galen sat in the desk chair and undressed and watched her undress in front of him.
Chapter IV
Galen awoke on his back, Olivia snuggled up against his right side, her head resting on his shoulder. She was magnificent. All the things he heard about morning hair and morning breath, all the jokes he’d heard about going to bed with a beautiful woman and then waking up with an ugly one were all proven untrue to Galen. He liked the smells, the disheveled look. He pulled back the blanket and admired her nude figure. She stirred, kissed him on the cheek and looked at the clock.
She sat up. “Damn! I was going to teach you about morning sex but there’s no time.”
Galen saw the clock. “Crap.”
He dressed quickly and rushed down the stairs. He went through the bar, yelled “goodbye” to his mother on the way out to the street and caught the next airbus to the hiring hall. After he stepped off the bus he sat on the bench and wondered if he were doing the right thing. He could get a job at the bar, take a commission with the local reserve unit, and live happily ever after with Olivia.
He used his personal communicator to call her.
“Olivia. I’m having second thoughts.”
“Galen, I love you in my own way.”
“Let’s stay together. We could get married!”
“Galen, don’t take this the wrong way. I love you as much as I have loved any man. But I don’t get married. I don’t. You can spend the night with me any time you want, but right now you have to go. Duty calls. Besides, your mother will kill me if you miss your appointment today.”
“I understand.” Galen didn’t like it but he understood it. “Goodbye.”
“Goodbye.”
He shut off the communicator and shoved it in his pocket and sat hunched over, head in his hands, for half a minute.
Then he stood and walked toward the hiring hall.
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 Gideon Fleisher
Kindle Edition
All rights reserved
Book 1
FIRST CONTRACT
Chapter One
Galen would be a mercenary, as soon as he signed his first contract. He wanted to be successful enough to make his mother proud. She raised him and paid his way through the Ostwind Military Academy as she worked as a barmaid at the warrior base on Ostreich.
Galen didn’t know his deceased father, but knew he had been a mercenary in the Foreign Corps; that’s why Galen was two hundred and ten centimeters tall. His mother, she raised Galen to be a mighty and successful warrior. Galen had just graduated from the Ostwind Military Academy Armor School and it was time for him to do his part.
He sat at the bench on the sidewalk, hunched over, staring at his size fourteen combat boots and rubbed his large hands over his close-cropped brown hair. The mild headache was a reminder of last night’s graduation party. He stood to his full height, stretched, buttoned his grey full-length wool coat, stuffed his hands into his pockets—he could do that now, outside the Academy—and started walking toward the largest building in the city. It was where he would meet two of his academy classmates, to join the same unit with them.
He stopped fifty meters away from the steps of the building and scanned the three dozen or so groups of job-seeking warriors. When he picked out his two friends he stood watching them for a minute. Tad was almost two meters tall, of average build but not to be ignored. His scalp showed through his close-cropped academy haircut and added a slight touch of pink to his bright orange hair. He wore a rescue-yellow windbreaker and green-blue plaid parachute pants and gestured vigorously as he spoke to Spike.
Spike seemed to be leaning on something invisible, standing in his knee-high leather boots, dark blue pants tucked into them, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his black leather waist-length jacket. His conservative haircut was probably the longest allowed by the academy, and his hair’s blackness was made even darker by styling spray. With his thick moustache, the short and stocky Spike resembled an ancient fighter pilot.
Galen walked up to them and said, “Spike, Tad, how’s it going? Find us a job yet?”
“Sure!” said Tad, “as soon as the agent bothers to show up to work. We’ve been standing here through lunch, haven’t seen him yet. He’s supposed to poke his face out that door and wave us in, any time now. I’m tired of waiting. I want some action. I can’t stand all this waiting around!”