Waiting...

Chapter 3:

NO NEW MESSAGES….

He hit refresh again.  This had to be some sort of mistake.  Really, he hadn’t ever been stood up before and it was hurting more than he expected.  He clicked on the last message he had received from  Qryus4U almost three weeks ago.

                “Hi Doug,

                I am so excited to meet up with you! Are you still on for tonight?

                I will be wearing what you suggested – jeans, white button down

                open down the front with a blue tank top underneath, no boxers.

                Have I mentioned that I am really excited to meet you?!?!

                I’ll admit I’m really nervous too, but don’t worry – there Is NO way

                I’m backing out! 9 pm at the “Up and Under” right? Oh and I do

                have your cell # programmed in my phone too. Are you sure you

                still want to meet me? I mean, I’m newer to all of this. Please

                don’t back out on me without giving me a head’s up, ok?

                Also! I will remember to let one of my friends know that we’re

                meeting – when and where and that they have your phone # too!

                That really makes me like you that much better! See it’s your

                personality that’s attracting me…not just your photos *wink!*

                So I’m also rambling A LOT now. I know – I know, an excuse to

                that I’m just trying to get put over your knee sooner. =P

                See you tonight!

                Jamie”

Doug shook his head and ran a frustrated hand through his dark brown hair.  He had read and reread Jamie’s email a thousand times and each time he could not even begin to see where or why he might’ve been stood up.  He must have been…otherwise Jamie’s friend, never name, would have had to have called him if Jamie never checked in.  Right?

He ran a hand over his face and back through his hair once more. Unless…Jamie had lied and not told his “friend” about their meeting? It wouldn’t be the first time that that had happened to Doug. It was to help protect his potential future sub.  Why didn’t they get that?

He stood outside the Up and Under and stared at it before he took a deep breath. He could admit he was as excited about meeting Jamie and Jamie’s email had made him sound. It had been a while for him since he had actually took on a sub…let alone one so new to the scene or lifestyle….and if he was being honest…one who actually had his attention for more than five minutes.

He was wearing the exact opposite colors of what he had asked Jamie to wear – blue button down unbuttoned with a white tank underneath, jeans…boxers…take a guess?  He had rolled up his sleeves to be sure that Jamie would be able to get a good look at his right wrist with the rope tattoo clearly visible.

Jamie was supposed to have sandy blonde hair…almost light brown and be wearing the opposite colors.  He had seen a few pictures of him and he had looked very innocent and his smile was enticingly cute…almost gentle? It couldn’t be that hard to find him…after all Up and Under wasn’t that large of a bar.

It had been a neutral choice…not a “gay” bar or anything like that. Safe, public area for the two of them to meet and get to know one another and see how far their attraction really went. Doug wasn’t looking for just another boy toy. He wanted something that had the physical, emotional, mental attractions….all of it.

Maybe Jamie had been another one of the posers he found frequently online.  Maybe he had really been too good to be true…slightly younger, handsome man… not too far away… He clicked on his junk mail folder hoping maybe something had been sent there, but all forty messages were “Click here for male enhancement” and “credit report”. 

He went back to his inbox and looked at the page full of email correspondence between Jamie and himself. He clicked on “check all” and hovered the cursor over the delete option.  He couldn’t do it.  He wanted to track down Jamie.  He had called and left messages for a week before the message became the dreaded “this number has been disconnected. ”

I should’ve had Jamie send me his friend’s name and phone number so I had it too… He logged off his email and stood up to stretch.  Maybe it was just time to get back into the scene without the log-in “help” and move on.  Maybe it was time to accept he had been stood up.

***

It had been almost four months since Doug had even thought about Jamie.  He was at work visiting one of the construction job sites he was responsible for and had been in the middle of conferring with the foreman. The project had hit a definite bump in the road.

“Seriously, Jimmy, I don’t give a shit about why you were late to the site this morning or why the guys on your crew couldn’t figure this out, but get this-“ His eyes flashed dangerously as his cell phone rang interrupted his train of thought. Jimmy breathed a sigh of relief. Saved by the bell...or phone as it were.

Doug could feel his annoyance level with stupid shit starting to reach the boiling point.  Looking down at it, it flashed an unknown local number and was slightly concerned. The way his day had been going, it was probably the engineering firm calling to cancel their portion of the project. “Excuse me Jimmy. I have to take this. Just, please, get this straightened out on this project, ok?”

Jimmy nodded as Doug answered the call, trying to use his “customer” voice. “Good morning, this is Doug. ”

“…….”

“Excuse me, hello? Is someone on the line?” He was trying hard not to let his frustrations enter his voice in case it was a customer. 

“Ah…I’m sorry to bother you, but is this Doug?”

“Yes…do we have a bad connection….?” He smiled a bit.  Not the engineering firm…most likely a new telemarketer or cold caller to take care of.  Maybe his morning was getting better - some poor bastard was about to take the brunt of his frustations.

“N-no.  I’m sorry to bother you, but do you know a James Abirnth?”  He thought for a moment. The name didn’t ring a bell right off hand.

“I’m afraid I don’t know a James Abirnth, but I do know a Jamie and two other James’? Do you have the last name right?”

“Jamie?!” He was surprised at the relief and concern he heard in the background. Apparently he was on some sort of speaker phone.

“Yeah….I know of a Jamie. I’ve never met the guy personally.  Stood me up a few months back, but I doubt-“

“That’s Jamie! But wait…he stood you up?”

“Ok. Look.  I’ve been very patient with these questions, but who is this and what do you want? I didn’t even know the man’s last name – I doubt I’m going to be able to help you…”

A new voice, one that actually sounded authoritative came over the line, “Sorry.  We have more questions for you. Would you be willing to come to the city’s police station as soon as possible please?” Doug’s eyes widened in shock.  Four months of silence and suddenly please come to the police station? What the hell was going on?

“Of course. Let me just get my construction crew in order and I will be down immediately.”

“Thank you for your cooperation, Doug. You have one hour to report to the police station. We have tracked your location through your cellular provider.  If you are not here within the hour, we will not hesitate to come pick you up.” His eyes narrowed. He didn’t appreciate the threatening tone the conversation had just taken, let alone the strangeness of the phone call to begin with. He ran a frustrated hand roughly through his hair.

“Your instructions are perfectly clear. I am most happy to help you in any way I can. See you soon.” He slid the call off of his phone’s screen and stared at it in silence for a moment.  Four months… He hadn’t had Jamie’s last name - which is an error on his part - and obviously something had happened… A hard knot was quickly forming in his stomach from his concern.

Jimmy stared at the project manager as he hung up from the call. He looked as if he had just had the wind knocked out of him. “You ok, Dougie?”

Doug shook his head and looked at the foreman. “Yeah…great. Just heard some potentially bad news about my friend, Jamie, is all.”

“Sorry to hear that. She going to be ok?” Jimmy was concerned for him.  Doug was usually top dog around the site, even if Jimmy was the foreman. While Doug was great about keeping work and personal bull separate from one another…. the paleness of the man’s face was making him wonder if he’d be able to separate them this time, and not take the shit out on the crews.  They hadn't had a good start to the day.

“Yeah. Sounds like he is. They didn’t give me much information.” Jimmy was surprised. Jamie was a guy. Interesting… Maybe he didn’t know the boss as well as he was thinking. “Anyways, look, I’ve got to go down to the police station and help them out with something regarding Jamie. I won’t be gone very long.  Please, Jimmy, by the time I’m back, get the crew moving, and if you get a call from the engineering firm, have them send Holly over as soon as possible. She is the best drafter they have, ok?”

Jimmy threw up a mock salute. “No problem. No rush. I’ve got it under control.”

Doug raised an eyebrow and smirked. “If you’ve got everything under control, why is it that I constantly have to come on-site to kick your and your crew’s asses to keep on schedule?”

Jimmy flipped Doug the bird as he turned to walk back towards his crew.  Why did the name Jamie sound so familiar to him? Probably the name of the last hooker he had snagged. He mentally shrugged and kept walking.

***

Doug rushed into the police station and pushed the call button. He stared at his own reflection in the double sided glass that allowed the receptionist to see him but him not to see any detail of her.  “How can I help you?”

“Ah, yes. My name is Doug Petersen.  I was called by one of your detectives, I think, to come down and answer a few questions.”

“Ok. Thank you Mr. Petersen.  Wait for a moment and an officer will come through the door to your right to escort you back.” He nodded patiently at the glass and waited.  He didn’t pace or anything but instead stood motionless.

The door opened quickly after a brief wait and an older man walked out. “Mr. Petersen?”

“Yes. Hello.” Doug walked to the man.

“I’m Detective Fraser. Pleased to meet you. Thank you very much for coming so quickly to the station and your cooperation with us so far.  Please follow me.” Detective Fraser held open the door and gestured politely for Doug to proceed him through the door.

“Thank you, Detective. I have to say I’m really puzzled as to what’s going on.” He followed the officer through a brief hallway to a single wooden door that the detective once again held open for him.

“Please enter… I’m sorry that this room is exactly what it looks like. Interrogation.  I, however, would like to consider this just questioning and hopefully information gathering.” He gestured and Doug took a seat at one of the chairs placed before a simple table.

“Not a problem, Detective Fraser.  Please call me Doug and I am happy to help your investigation?” The detective nodded affirmatively, “ah, in any way that I can.  I’m afraid though that I might not be much help.”

Detective Fraser adjusted the notepad set on the table and pulled a pen out of his breast pocket. “I understand. Please, do note that you are not being accused of anything. Some of these questions are going to be rather personal due to some of the information that has recently come to light in Mr. Abirnth’s case – but I must insist that you answer them as honestly and thoroughly as you can, Doug.”

Doug tried to prevent his smirk.  They must have found out about Jamie’s interests in BDSM amongst other things.  Of course they’d have taken any computers and emails.  Maybe he still had been stood up after all? He wasn’t sure why that was still bothering him, even after four months!

“Ok Doug. How do you know Mr Abirnth?” Doug was very conscious of the fact that Detective Fraser had his pen at the ready. Heck, it was all probably being recorded as well.  It wasn’t as if his lifestyle choices weren’t publically known but it was disheartening to have to tell cops and possibly have it shown to others, not of his own choosing.  Control wasn’t something he liked to have taken from him.

“I know him only as Jamie and up until today, had no idea that his last name was Abirnth.  We met on a chat site that caters to those of us with….varied tastes as far as sex, fetishes, and personal lifestyle choices are concerned.”

“Can you be more specific?”

“Of course, in our situation, BDSM. I am what would be considered a “lifestyler” for BDSM. I’m well known in the open community for it and Jamie was new to it and had joined our site to get information, meet people and to generally find out that his tastes are not “sick”, “perverted” or any of the stigma’s assigned to the lifestyle or in some cases, their fetishes.”

“Excuse me – but was it simply a dating site or a sexual hook up site?” The detective looked skeptical at Doug’s descriptions.

“Absolutely not. It was intended for resources and knowledge, not a fuckbook or something like that.  Jamie was interested in BDSM and the lifestyle aspect of it and was looking for someone to mentor him and share knowledge with, and we had hit it off right away.”

“Don’t take this wrong way, Doug, but you hardly look gay….” Fraser had an eyebrow raised and looked even more skeptical.

“I’m not – I’m bisexual, and a Dom. Jamie had explained that he was gay and thought he was a sub or submissive.  We began chatting online and emailing for a few months before anything became more of a romantic interest between us.  Finally we decided that we were both attracted and finally one evening when we were chatting we decided it was time to meet in person and see what might happen.”

“And what did happen?”

“Absolutely nothing. We had set up a time to meet at the Up and Under bar and I had given Jamie all of my contact information.  I had even had him select a friend to give my contact information to – “

“Do you know which friend?”

“Unfortunately not. I should’ve required it of him to give me the name and number of the friend, but I didn’t.”

“Then what happened?”

“I arrived at the bar around 8:55 pm and figured I would wait for him to show up.  Finally around ten after 9 I got up to use the restroom and see if Jamie had shown up.  Finally by 9:30, I figured had I been stood up and left. “

“So you never saw anyone who even looked remotely like Jamie?”

“No…”

***

Fraser continued to grill Doug for two hours about all the details of Jamie he had known to Doug’s own personal record and relationship history.  He was starting to wonder if Fraser was going to ever run out of steam.

“Well, I do believe I have all of the information that I can handle for today from you.  I will walk you out.”

“Thank you Detective Fraser.” Doug stood and stretched before following Fraser out of the room and back to the lobby.  He shook his hand and walked outside into the sunshine, the harsh sunlight glaring at him after having been stuck inside the police station for the past hours.

He had been shocked to find out that no one had reported Jamie missing until almost a month after their date was supposed to have been completed.  Jamie had given one of his friends Doug’s contact information, but had never remembered anything about Jamie supposed to be checking in.  In fact, the young man hadn’t even remembered that Jamie was having a date that evening or had been given the information until police had come to question him.

Apparently Jamie had excellent taste in friends…. I need to start keeping a list of discussion topics for us…New Rule 1 – Doug gets to “eliminate” some of Jamie’s friends….No Arguments

Hopefully they would find Jamie…alive and well… How well did I know the man anyways? Maybe he was prone to this? The police certainly didn’t have any answers for him.  It was frustrating. 

As he drove, he tried to consider any suspicious people he had seen inside or outside of the bar.  He had bumped into Jimmy outside of the Up and Under.  He’d have to remember to tell Jimmy that he had mentioned him being near the bar the evening of the double date and that they may try to contact him about Jamie disappearance.  Like Jimmy would’ve possibly run into Jamie, but stranger things had happened.

As Doug pulled back up to the construction site, he parked the car and sat still for a few moments.  He had already offered all of his computer records to the police for them to pull any clues forward, but he was feeling out of control again and rather helpless.

The young man is probably dead anyways…. Hopefully some of the information I have can at least find the body? C’mon man, quit thinking negative….

***

"Fuck! SHIT!" Jamie woke with a start, flinching up and away from the ground and whatever had just touched his back. He had hoped he’d be dead by now.  Coolness soothing his back as something wet and slippery rubbed up against it, but not quickly enough or for long enough to take the sting out of the deep marks on his back.  He could imagine that many of them were going to add to his ever growing collection of scars.

"I wish I were dead….” He whispered.  There came the sounds slight movement and more wetness.  It had to be either Nicky or Franny.

“No you don’t…you are really lucky that you aren’t.” Came the sad sounding reply.  Nicky then.

“Yeah…as they say, whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger… What a bunch of crap… I still wish I were dead.”  Jamie rested his head down on his arms and tried not to move. Nicky was helping but in the meantime every lash mark could be felt individually and he was most ready to have something numb all of the pain.

“True….but hang in there ok, Jamie? Don't move and I’ll tell you a secret about myself.”  It was intriguing to find out more about his...friend?  He wasn't quite sure what to think at the moment of his "friend."

"How about I hold still and you answer three of my questions fully and honestly...." The salve application stopped and Jamie waited to hear Nicky's response.

"Ok." The application continued in silence for a few moments when he felt a gentle kiss on the back of his head, followed by a quiet "I'm sorry...." Jamie wasn't quite sure how to handle that.  If Nicky was sorry, would he have truly been able to whip him?  Jamie didn't think so, but he would wait silently to ask.

~~~~~~

AN: What is Nicky's secret? You'll have to wait until next chapter.  I'm excited to explain more about Nicholas...hopefully you enjoyed learning a bit more about Doug or NtrlTop4U in this chapter, Thank you very much to Saminda, Dazedandconfused and maloanne for your reviews. :)

Also - I've started mailing lists / notifications for each story I'm working on - if you want an email notification of when a story has been updated - please email me at blackopalaff@yahoo.com to be added to the lists or feel free to drop me a line there as well. =)