My Kind Of Bad

She was really proud of herself for sorting out the huge pile of paper that leaned against the desk. It was now all gone and everything was filed and put away.

“That’s great.” Billy sat behind his desk. It wasn’t as tidy as Neera’s but at least they could see it now. “It would take years to finish it all on my own.”

Neera laughed.

“Your filing system is a little eccentric, to say the least.”

“Taylor calls it chaotic.” Billy surveyed her with interest. “You sound like you’re enjoying yourself.”

“I am.” Neera put her pen down and sat back. “This is the most fun I’ve had in a long time with a job.”

Kurt’s decision to have her work for Billy had been a good one. It also allowed her to see how a motorcycle club worked. There were regular meetings that Neera took minutes at and several business ventures, owned by several members. Billy kept the books for everyone. They owned a lot of property in Topeka and the surrounding areas. Everything was detailed and everything was up to date. The only thing that hadn’t been up to date was the filing.

Billy chuckled.

“You are strange, Neera. I’ve never seen anyone enjoy numbers like you.”

“Well, I’ve found my calling.” Neera winked. “That’s all I can say about it.”

“That sounds true enough.” Billy switched on his computer. Then he spoke as he typed in his password. “How’s Kurt doing?”

Neera paused, her good mood suddenly swamped.

“I don’t know.” She looked down at the account book. “I haven’t seen him in a couple of days.”

“Really? I thought you two were joined at the hip.”

Neera had thought so, too. For the first five weeks they had spent every moment they could together. Neera had moved back into her apartment after Kurt’s friends cleaned it up and donated furniture but they hadn’t spent a night away from each other. They had been insatiable, neither able to keep their hands off each other. Neera went to sleep exhausted but happy.

But the last three weeks were completely different. Suddenly Kurt was out for all hours of the day and night, he wasn’t answering his cell phone and he seemed withdrawn. Neera had worried about it. She even asked Kurt about it but he wouldn’t say, merely saying it was work for the group and he was exhausted.

That may have been true but Neera didn’t like the change. He barely touched her beyond the occasional hug and quick kiss on the cheek. They hadn’t made love in nearly a month. It was as if they hadn’t had a s*xual relationship at all.

Neera didn’t want to talk about it to anyone. But Billy was essentially her boss and he was Kurt’s boss and friend. He was there when she needed to talk to someone. She sighed.

“He’s been avoiding me lately. It feels like it, that is. He won’t talk to me and he’s been sleeping on the couch.”

“Have you two had a fight?”

“Not that I know of.” Neera grunted. “And if we have I completely missed it.”

Billy gave her a kindly smile, the one a father would use for his daughter.

“He’ll come around soon. It’s been a while since a relationship has gone on this long for him. Maybe he’s just trying to get used to it in his own way.”

“I’d prefer that he talked to me.” Neera said grumpily. “It’s not helpful with him shying away like this.”

It hurt. Neera didn’t like it. She had thought Kurt really cared about her. She wouldn’t have thought so from the way he had been acting lately.

“Listen, honey, people deal with things in different ways. They find it difficult to communicate.” Billy shrugged. “How about you talk to him tonight about it? I’ll make sure he’s home at a reasonable time.”

“Thanks, Billy.”

Giving her a wink, Billy turned to his computer and began to tap away. Neera sighed and looked back at the accounting book. Suddenly all the numbers were running together. She rubbed at her eyes. Now might be a good time to take a break.

She stood up when the phone rang. Groaning, Neera sat again and scooped up the phone.

“Hello, Billy DuJour’s office.”

“Stay away from him.”

“Excuse me?”

“Stay away from Kurt. Do you hear me? He’s mine. He’s always been mine. You mean nothing to him.”

The voice was muffled, somewhat distorted. Neera felt cold shivers going up her spine. She didn’t know who was on the other end of the line but it couldn’t be good. She swallowed.

“Who is this?”

She heard a humorless chuckle.

“You’ll know soon enough. Kurt belongs only to me. If you knew what was good for him you’d run in the other direction as fast as you could because I’ll be coming after you, honey.”

Fear lodged in Neera’s throat. Suddenly she couldn’t breathe. Then she heard a click. The caller had hung up.

Neera hadn’t realized that she had dropped the phone until Billy picked it up and put it back in the cradle. He knelt beside her and made her turn her head to look at him.

“Neera? Neera, what’s wrong?”

But Neera couldn’t speak. She just stared at him. She had never been threatened like that before. And the caller was threatening her because of Kurt.

She had no idea what was going on.

“Neera, talk to me.” Billy’s face was lined with worry. “What’s wrong?”

Neera swallowed. Her throat was very dry.

“I just got threatened.”

*****

Kurt entered the police station, worry barely being held back as he spoke to the desk sergeant. He had been on his way home when Billy had called him about Neera getting a threat from a mysterious caller calling from a burner cell phone. The realization that Neera had been threatened because of him had made Kurt feel very cold.

He was not going to lose Neera now. He loved her, he knew that much. No way was somebody going to come in and take her.

Kurt was exhausted and he wanted to go home and fall asleep but Billy had asked him to call his brother and tell him about the call. Kurt was reluctant to do so – Pete was still mad at him for starting a relationship with Neera despite the dangers – but Billy had been insistent. And Kurt would do anything for Neera.

His relationship with her right now wasn’t fantastic. He had been neglecting her due to overworking and complete exhaustion. But Kurt had spoken to Billy and he was going to take the week off to relax and get his energy back up.

If he didn’t use it all in the bedroom with Neera. His co*k twitched at the thought of that.

Kurt found Pete in his office shutting down his laptop. He stood in the doorway for a moment and watched his older brother. Pete was looking better than he had been in a long time. He kept himself well-groomed and he didn’t look like he slept in his clothes. It probably had something to do with his new girlfriend. They had been together for three weeks and Pete looked happy.

Kurt was pleased. It had been a long time since he had seen Pete look happy.

He knocked on the door.

“Hey, bro.”

Pete looked up, blinking in surprise.

“Kurt, hey. You just caught me.” He stood up and reached for his coat. “Lila wants me home soon. She’s cooking.”

Kurt laughed.

“Your girlfriend has changed you. You’re going home on time.”

“Very funny.” Pete shrugged into his coat. “What’s wrong? Can it wait until tomorrow?”

“No, it can’t.” Kurt paused. “Neera got a phone call today. The caller threatened her.”

“What?”

“Someone called her at Billy’s office and said if she didn’t break it off with me she was going to be killed.”

Pete’s face paled.

“Oh, God. They’re escalating.”

Kurt knew he didn’t need to clarify who ‘they’ were. Then he realized Pete had said something that didn’t make sense.

“Hang on, what do you mean by escalating? Do you mean Neera’s been getting more of these phone calls?”

Pete sighed and leaned against his desk.

“She came into the station a few weeks back and asked to speak to me personally. She told me she had been getting several hang-up calls and all she could hear was heavy breathing at the other end. It was freaking her out. So I told her to tell me whenever she got a call.” Pete paused. “So far she’s had over thirty calls in the last three weeks. This is the first one where they’ve spoken.”