Blandman vs. The Unbearable Need
Holly shook her hand to get the blood flowing. Damn, she hadn’t realized there was this much paperwork that needed to be filled out just to be a sidekick.
She looked at the next sheet of paper. What was this one, she wondered.
The title was “Cover Story in the Event of Death by Dismemberment.”
Holly growled to herself. She kind of hoped that didn’t happen to her but if it did, did it really matter what cover story anyone wanted to use?
What were her options? Plane crash. Okay, that was doable. Trampled during the running of the bulls? Come on! The next option was Freddie Krueger. She sighed and checked the box marked plane crash.
She went to the next paper in the stack. Being a sidekick was a lot harder than just putting on a spandex suit and going out and kicking some bad guy in the butt.
The next sheet was the Superhero Secret Identity Confidentiality Act. It spelled out the terms and conditions of when a secret identity could be revealed and to whom, and it laid out the penalties that would ensue if its terms were violated. Fortunately, all it required was a signature that confirmed it had been read so Holly signed and moved on to the next sheet.
“How’s it going?”
Holly looked up to see Blandman standing there. “I can’t believe you guys have to go through all this stuff.”
“It used to be worse before they streamlined it.”
“This is streamlined?!”
“Oh yeah.” His tone left little doubt in Holly’s mind that she didn’t want to know more. “It’s why you don’t see more superheroes,” Blandman said.
“Do the supervillains have to do this?”
Blandman took a drink from his beer. “It’s actually worse for them. Less paperwork but they’re such law-breakers that they keep trying to get around the rules but then they get caught cheating and then there’s hell to pay after that.
“That’s why you don’t see more of them out on the street. They’re in jail for not doing their paperwork right.”
“But if they’re that easy to catch—”
“Easy. I didn’t say they were easy, but they start doing stuff like that and sooner or later, one of the other SVs—”
“SVs?”
“Super villains. Yeah, one of the other SVs will turn them in.”
“Oh.”
“Yep. Kind of hard to believe but the world would be a whole lot less safer if we didn’t have so much red tape. So you got your name yet?”
“I think I’m going to go with Expandagirl.”
“I like it.”
Across town, a hooker bounced up and down on her client’s cock. The man wasn’t particularly attractive but then he didn’t have to be. After all, looks weren’t what she was after.
“Fuck,” the man groaned. “Fuck.”
The hooker said nothing. She just bounced in the man’s lap.
“Fuck,” the man groaned again. “Oh yeah, baby. That’s it. Ride that cock.”
That’s what she was doing, the hooker wanted to tell the man but she said nothing. After all, it wasn’t about telling anyone anything. It was all about the doing.
The man groaned. “Fuck,” the man groaned. “Fuck, I’m cumming.”
The hooker knew it. The hooker knew the man was cumming and even as she felt him cumming inside her, the hooker felt her pussy clamp down on the cock inside her.
Sue Jacoby stayed where she was until the man was done and only then did she climb off his lap. For the moment at least, her hunger was slaked but it was only for a moment. She knew that soon her pussy would be demanding attention yet again.
She collected her money from the man and she let herself out of the room. She’d been doing this for a while now, ever since she’d been fired from her job working for the government. She could understand that. Her brother was an evil genius. It seemed weird to call him that, especially considering what a loser Derek was, but considering how he’d made her what she now was, she had to call him an evil genius. She just didn’t like thinking of him that way.
For now though, her pussy was happy and that at least, was the best she could hope for.
“I don’t get it.”
Blandman looked at his new sidekick. “What don’t you get?”
“I thought there would be more guys,” Holly said.
“I told you,” Blandman said. “We ... well I ... don’t get much attention.”
“But I thought we were going to ... you know, maybe like hang out with—”
“You wanted to get laid.”
Holly at least had the good sense to look sheepish about what she wanted. “Yeah,” she said.
Blandman smiled knowingly. “I don’t think you’ve got anything to worry about there,” he said.
“Why,” Holly pouted.
“Because you’re a sidekick,” Blandman said, “and because I saw the pictures you put up on the superhero web site. If I didn’t know better, I’d say Expandagirl was looking for ways to make guys grow even when she wasn’t touching them.”
Holly grinned. She had the ability to make people grow wherever she touched them. Perhaps it wasn’t the most useful power in the world, but hey, it was her power, and she was fine with it. “Well maybe I did get a little carried away.”
Blandman grinned. “Maybe just a little,” he said, “although I think pic number four was a classic.”
“So you think superhero guys are going to call me?”
“Some will. Oh sure, there’s going to be some prudes and pricks who won’t be calling but superheroes are guys, too, and when you’re a superhero, it’s not like you can bring just any girl home and fuck her, but a sidekick—”
“What’s so big about that?”
“Think about it. Superhero babes are hot but if they don’t like what you’re doing, they can kick your ass. A lot of guys can’t live up to pressure like that but sidekicks, sidekicks are usually just about everything a guy wants, cute, bubbly, fun loving, and in most cases, very willing to put out.”
“I’m not a slut,” Holly said.
“I didn’t say you were. I just said sidekicks like to have fun.”
“So you think I’m going to be getting calls?”
“I think you can count on it, but a word to the wise—”
“Yes?”
“Be careful if Destructo calls.”
“Why? What’s wrong with him?”
“Nothing. Nice guy. Great bowler, but the man destroys everything he touches, and I do mean everything, so you have to ask yourself do you really want someone like that inside your pussy.”
“Good point,” Holly said.
She was back on the street again. This was the hard time for her, the time between turning tricks. It was the time when she wasn’t getting what she needed. Her fuckhead brother had used his stupid laser on her to make her need to get fucked and it was a need that she just couldn’t resist.
The other girls hated her. She knew that and Sue knew why. She undercut their prices. It wasn’t her fault but her pussy needed to be fucked and even if she started out trying to charge a decent price, her pussy didn’t like to wait, and the more she had to wait, the more likely her pussy was going to be to lower her price. More than once, she’d given it away for free just because that was what her pussy had demanded from her.
“Hey, Mister,” she called out to a passerby. “Hey, you looking for a good time?”
The man shook his head and scurried on past.
“Ass hole,” Sue muttered under her breath but she didn’t have time to waste on him. It had already been too long and her pussy which never was completely quiet was clamoring for attention.
“Hey, buddy,” she called out to another man. “Hey, I know you. You want to get your cock sucked? Come on. Let me suck your cock, baby.”
Like the other man, this one also declined her offer.
Sue moaned to herself. Shit, it was getting bad. She’d waited too long. She needed to get fucked. Maybe she should just strip herself down, get down on her hands and knees and just offer herself up to any man that wanted to take her.
She moaned at that. She knew it was a mistake almost as soon as she’d thought it but her pussy was just so wet and the thought of offering herself up like that ...
Knock it off, she told herself. You haven’t got time for ... for ...
It was a figure walking across the street that caught her attention and her eyes narrowed. She’d seen that person before, she told herself.
“Hey.”
Sue was still looking across the street but then she pulled her attention back and looked at the boy and his friends that were standing in front of her. “Can I help you,” she asked.
“You’re a hooker, right?”
Amateurs, Sue thought, but then she’d already come to that conclusion. You just didn’t say what the boy had said, and if you did, you definitely didn’t say it out in the open. Lucky for them, she thought, that she was as horny as she was. “What’s in it for you,” she asked.
“We want a hooker ... for a bachelor party we’re doing.”
Sue looked once more at the figure across the street and then once more, her attention was back on the boy. He probably wanted a stripper, she told herself, a stripper who’d put out after she got her clothes off, but hey, Sue could do that, and a bachelor party with all those guys, now that sounded like fun. “I think maybe we can work something out,” she told the boy.
Holly wasn’t even sure what she wanted when she stepped into the jewelry store. Something special, she’d told herself. Something that represented the new her, but now that she was here ... nothing seemed quite right.
“May I help you, miss?” asked a salesman.
“I was just looking,” Holly said.
“Perhaps I could help you look,” the man said.
Did he really want to help her look, Holly wondered, or did he have her pegged for what she was, a college student with no money. Maybe he just wanted to keep an eye on her to make sure she didn’t steal anything.
Of course, maybe that wasn’t exactly what he had on his mind. After all, she was a young, college girl and he was barely older than she was and he was kind of cute.
“Are you sure there’s not something I can show you?” the man asked.
“I’ll be fine,” Holly said. “I’m just looking.”
“Are you sure?”
Holly nodded. She was pretty sure she wasn’t the only one who was doing some looking. She was sure the man was looking, too, but she was sure what he was looking at was her.
Holly sighed. She might have a new secret identity but unfortunately, her new secret identity didn’t come with a new bank account. Everything here, it was all so expensive.
And besides, she had no idea what she was looking for anyway. She’d just thought she’d buy something, maybe some kind of signature pendant or jewelry that she would wear when she was Expandagirl.
Holly sighed.
The man was back again. “Can I help you?” he asked again.
He was kind of cute, Holly told herself and if she took him home with her, well with her powers to make any body part grow with just a touch, yeah, she could have some fun with him, only ...
Only the rules were rather explicit. She remembered reading about it in the stack of forms she’d read. You weren’t supposed to use your powers for personal use.
That sucked!
“Can I help you?” the man asked again.
Holly sighed. “No, I guess not.”
The man nodded. “Well please keep us in mind when you are ready the next time.”
“I’ll do that,” Holly said and with one more wistful look, she turned and left the store.
“So do I get a freebie?”
Sue had seen the girl come out of the store. Once more, she returned her attention to the man in front of her. “What?”
“I was asking if I could get a freebie.”
“No,” Sue said derisively. “What do you think this is? A charity?”
“But if you’re going to be working my friend’s bachelor party, you’re going to get paid for that.”
Sue could see the girl getting into a car. “That’s right. If I work your friend’s bachelor party, I’ll get paid for that, too. What of it?”
“I thought maybe you could show me what you could do.”
Sue watched the car pull away from the curb and mentally, she made a note of the car’s license plate number before she returned her attention to the man.
“You want a freebie?”
“Yeah.”
“How do I know there’s even a bachelor party? How do I know I’m even going to get the job if I give you the freebie. Maybe I give you the freebie and after I do, you decide to go somewhere else. Where does that leave me?”
“I wouldn’t do that.”
Sue grinned to herself. The boy didn’t know it but as horny as she was, she was going to let him fuck her no matter what. “I got a better idea.”
“Yeah? What?”
“You pay me now. You fuck me hard and if you do a good job and if you make me cum and especially if you fill me up with your cum, then I’ll deduct the price of that from the bachelor party.”
“I don’t know.”
“What’s to know? You just take me back to your place and you fuck me. Unless of course, you can’t deliver the goods. You don’t want to tell me you can’t deliver the goods, do you?”
“No.”
“Then I don’t really see as how you got a choice.”
“You’d really do that? You’d really deduct the price from the party?”
“Are you really going to fuck me good?”
“Yeah, baby. Yeah, I’ll fuck you good.”
“Then I’ll really do it.” Easy, Sue thought. Easy. The boy was so fucking easy.
Well easy and hard, actually. It turned out for all his bravado, the boy had something to back it up. It turned out he was a college student. It turned out he lived in a little fucking dorm room. Sue couldn’t help but notice that he had put a hangar out on his doorknob. Probably a signal for the roommate to stay away but when he finally got her out of her stretch lycra pants and when he finally got himself out of his jeans, it turned out he had one hell of a cock and he knew how to use it.
Well, kind of. Almost as soon as she had his clothes off and almost as soon as she she had him on the bed, well, she’d barely gotten her mouth on the boy’s cock and already, he was cumming in her mouth.
“What is this?” she asked. “Did you just come in my mouth?”
“Sorry,” the boy said sheepishly.
“I don’t want you to be sorry. I want you to be good. Performance like that isn’t going to earn you anything.”
“I said I was sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. Be good. Be good and bad at the same time. That’s what I want.”
“I will.”
“You better. Otherwise, no discount for you.”
This time, the boy got hard when she sucked him again, but this time, he stayed that way. He groaned a bit with each suck on his cock, but other than that, he didn’t seem to waver.
“I said I wanted you to fuck me,” Sue said, “but after your past performance, I think I’ve got a better idea.”
“What?”
Sue moved up until her body was straddling the boy’s. Her hand reached between her legs and her hand took hold of his cock. “I think I’m going to fuck you.”
“What?”
Sue didn’t bother to answer the boy. Instead, she just led the boy to her waiting pussy and moments later, she was sliding herself down on that cock.
“Fuck,” the boy groaned and then he groaned again. “Fuck.”
Sue couldn’t have put it better. “Are you going to do it right this time?” she taunted the boy. “Are you going to make me cum?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh yeah,” Sue moaned. “Oh yeah. That’s it. Make me cum.”
The boy wasn’t saying anything anymore. The best he could manage was a few gutteral moans as the woman fucked his cock.
“Oh yeah,” Sue moaned. “Oh yeah. You’re going to make me cum. You’re going to ... to ... oh fucking yeah.”
Sue couldn’t help but moan as her pussy bore down on the cock inside her and in the next instant, the boy was filling her up with his cum.
“Oh yeah,” Sue moaned. “Oh yeah. You know what? I think you just earned yourself a stripper for your bachelor party.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, but how about we keep on going, to see just how much of a discount you can get.”
It was some time later and Sue was finally leaving the boy’s dorm room. A price had been agreed upon as had the time and the place for the party. Everything was good.
Well not everything. Sue pulled her cell phone from her purse and she waited for the person on the other end of the line to answer her call. “Hey, Jerry,” she said finally. “It’s Sue. Can you talk?”
“I need a favor,” she said.
“I know it’s going to cost me. How much?”
“Geez, Jerry. You do have a one-track mind.”
Speaking of a one-track mind, Susan thought, but no, she was okay for now. “It’s nothing much,” she said. “I just need you to run a plate for me.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Same old Jerry.”
Sue laughed again. “Maybe you’re right,” she told the man. “Maybe I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Blandman didn’t receive the call until the end of the day and it wasn’t like he was ignoring them. It was just that he had a nine to five job and his boss didn’t like it when he took personal calls at work and since no one ever called him anyway, he just kind of forgot to pay attention to the Bland-phone.
By the time he looked at his phone, he found he had eight missed calls. Eight, he wondered. Who the hell would call him eight times? Well sure, telemarketers maybe but other than them, who else?
In the first call, the woman, (it was a woman who called him on each of the calls,) the woman left a rather smug message. “Hey, Blandman,” she taunted him. “Guess what I got? I got your little honey here and I’m holding her hostage. If you know what’s good for her, you’ll come and get her and you’ll come alone. Bye.”
Shortly thereafter, someone had texted him directions to a place that from the directions, seemed to be somewhere out in the desert. But it was the message that really got to him. “Your little honey?” What the hell was that supposed to mean? If this was one of the other superheroes trying to play a practical joke on him, he was going to be pissed.
The next message came in a half hour later. “Where the fuck are you?” the woman said. “I’m getting tired of waiting.”
The next message came in two hours later. “Where the hell are you. I’ve got ... what’s your name, honey ... I’ve got Expandagirl here. If you know what’s good for you ... and for her ... you’ll stop dicking around and come get her.
The next three messages came in in rapid succession.
“Where the fuck are you?”
And then, “I mean business, asshole.”
And finally, “Oh yeah, whatever you do, don’t bring any water.”
So the woman, whoever she was, the woman knew. As far as superheroes went, he was pretty much at the low end of the totem pole. All he could do was heat water and freeze it. Usually, when the superheroes got together, if he was invited at all, it was because they wanted someone to run out and get pizza for them and half the time, he ended up having to eat the cost of the pizza because the superheroes conveniently forgot to bring their wallets. Oh they ususally had an excuse. Usually, it was something like you couldn’t carry a wallet and wear spandex at the same time, but still ...
That wasn’t the point. This woman, whoever she was, she knew what his powers were. Meeting out in the desert pretty much negated whatever he could do.
The last three messages had come every hour on the hour, almost as if someone were watching the clock. Usually, the woman would say something pithy like, “Where the fuck are you,” and then she’d just hang up.
Blandman looked at his watch. It would be a while before the woman called again.”
Holly woke up to find herself strapped to a table. Where she was, she didn’t know, but aside from herself, the table and the other woman in the room, there was little else in the place where she was.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“My name’s Sue.”
“Okay, and why am I here?”
“Because I need you.”
“You need me for what?”
“I need you to help lure Blandman into a trap.”
“Bland who?”
“Don’t lie to me. I know you know who I’m talking about.”
“I don’t.”
“I know you have to say that,” Sue said, “but since you’re not going to admit you know him, why don’t you not say anything at all.”
“Fine,” and then, “Why am I here?”
“I told you. I set a trap and you’re the bait. You’re going to help me lure him here and then I’m going to kill him because of what my brother did to me, and then I’m sorry to say, I’m going to have to kill you, too.”
“You’re crazy. You know that, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I’m crazy. Crazy like a fox. We’re out in the middle of the desert which means there’s not a source of water for miles and miles around. That means your boyfriend’s powerless to help you.”
“He’s not my boyfriend.”
“Oh come on. Don’t give me that crap. I’ve seen you two together.”
Holly was starting to panic just a little. “Look, I don’t know what it is you thought you saw, but I just got in the sidekick business so I could meet guys.”
Sue Jacoby cut Holly off with a short bark of a laugh. “That’s so funny,” she said. “So funny, I forgot to laugh. You like him. I know you do.”
Holly shook her head. “You don’t understand.”
“Why? Don’t try and tell me you’re not into guys,” Sue said.
“That’s it,” Holly said as she latched on to what Sue had said. “You got me. I’m a total lesbo super slut. You got me figured out.”
“Yeah? Is that it? Let me ask you. You gotten together with Vibrawoman yet? They tell me what she can do with a girl’s pussy is nothing short of miraculous.”
“Yeah. Yeah, me and Vibrawoman got together just last week so you see, you got me all wrong. You’ve got to let me go.”
Sue Jacoby just laughed. “You don’t know nothing about nothing, do you. Vibrawoman’s not into girls which from what I hear is too bad because there are plenty of girls that are totally into her, but Vibrawoman’s a total boy toy. Did you know she got a boob job?”
Holly shook her head.
“She couldn’t go under anasthetic, you know. Superhero code of ethics and all that, but no matter. Word on the street was she shook her boobs so hard that they just got bigger on their own.”
“Wow!”
Sue laughed again. “God, would you listen to you. I was kidding. God, you are so gullible.”
“I am not gullible.”
“And you still say Blandman’s not coming?”
Holly nodded.
“Well then, I suppose there’s no reason we should keep you around here then, is there? I suppose I might as well kill you now.”
“Please don’t.”
“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t.”
“Maybe because I wouldn’t like it.”
Both woman turned to find Blandman standing in the doorway to the cabin.
Sue Jacoby almost danced with glee. “Whoo-wee. I knew you were going to come,” but then she glared at the canteen on the man’s hip. “I told you. No water.”
The man just shrugged. “It’s the middle of the fucking desert. What’d you expect me to do?”
“Hand it over,” Sue demanded.
Blandman just looked at the woman ad then he handed over his canteen.
“God, you are so stupid,” Sue gloated. “That was your last chance and you just threw it all away.”
Again, the superhero seemed not to care. “I’ll give you one chance,” he said. “If you let my sidekick go now, then you can do what you want with me.”
Sue just laughed at that. “I can’t believe it. You think you’re in any position to negotiate with me. “That’s a laugh.”
“It’s not a negotiation. It’s a fact.”
Sue laughed again. “The only fact here is that I’m going to have to decide which one of you I’m going to kill first.” She looked at Holly. “Sorry, no offense, honey, but I can’t be leaving any witnesses when I’m done.
“Yeah. Well fuck you.”
“Now, Holly. That’s not nice, and besides, I’m sure Sue here doesn’t even know what you can do. If she did, I’m sure she wouldn’t be nearly so hard on you.”
“Do?” Susan asked. “What do you mean? What can she do?”
“See. I told you. She doesn’t even know.”
“What ... can ... she ... do?”
From the way Holly was looking at Blandman, it was clear she was pretty much thinking the very same thing.
“I heard you two talking before I came in,” Blandman explained. “About Vibrawoman, you know, but if you thought she could be good, you should see what Holly here can do.”
“What can she do?” Sue asked tersely.
Blandman just shrugged. “I thought you knew. Holly here can lick your pussy.”
“Yeah, so what?”
“No, you don’t understand. She can lick your pussy. She can lick your pussy better than it’s ever been licked before and I’ll bet if my guess is right, you probably could use having someone lick your pussy right now.”
Sue Jacoby couldn’t help but moan at that. She wondered if the man knew how much she needed to be fucked.
“What about it, Sue?” the man asked. “You look like a woman who knows what she needs. And you look like the type of woman that’s not going to let propriety stand in the way of a good pussy licking. So what about it? Are you ready to get what you want?”
Was she ready, Sue wondered.
“Look at her,” Blandman said. “You’ve already got her all tied up. There’s no way she’s going to resist you. All you have to do is to take her.”
All I have to do is to take her, Sue thought. “No wait,” she groaned. “It’s a trick. You’re going to try and escape.”
“I’m not going to try and escape,” Blandman said. “You have my word on that. I’m going to stay and watch. You’d like that, wouldn’t you? You’d like having me watch you getting something I can’t have.”
Mmm, Sue thought.
“I know you’d like it. I can feel how wet it’s making you.”
No, Susan thought. Must stop. Must ...
“You know you want to.”
“No. I’m not going to.”
“Fine. Suit yourself, but don’t blame me if you regret it later.”
“I won’t regret it.”
“Good. I’m glad to hear it. I just know a woman like you has needs.”
She did have needs and there was something satisfying about having the jerk watch her as she got herself off on his sidekick. Yeah now, that would be fun.
No. That was just what he wanted you to think.
And so what if it was. He was right about one thing. Her pussy was wet.
Yeah, why not. Why not use the bitch for her own pleasure and who knew. Maybe if she did a really good job, maybe she’d let the bitch go free.
She climbed up on the table and she straddled the girl’s body. “So your boss thinks you can suck my pussy good.”
“I know I can.”
It was nothing special, Sue thought as she lowered her pussy onto the girl’s mouth. She’d had other girls eat her out before and let’s face it, she still liked boys better. Oh sure, the girl seemed eager, but ...
Oh my God, Sue thought. Oh my God.
“Told you,” she heard the man say.
She wanted to tell him to shut up but the truth was she found herself incapable of saying anything at all. Her pussy had suddenly become engorged and the more the girl licked her, the more engorged her pussy became.
It wasn’t normal, Sue told herself. It wasn’t normal for her to be acting this way, and yet ...
And yet, it felt so fucking good.
Her pussy was swollen with her need. Oh geez. She was going to cum. She was cumming. Oh geez. She was going to cum again.
The only thing that mattered was the girl’s tongue. The only thing that mattered was the way it made her feel.
Someone was pulling on her hands but she didn’t care. As long as it didn’t affect her ability to get her pussy off, she just didn’t care.
Someone was pulling her hands behind her back and there was an instant of coldness and suddenly ...
And suddenly, her pussy was back to normal and her hands ...
Her hands were restrained. Her hands were restrained behind her back.
“What the fuck!”
She tried to move her hands but she couldn’t. What the hell was the matter with her. Why couldn’t she move her hands and why the heck were they so cold?
“I wouldn’t try to struggle too much,” she heard the man say. “You might hurt yourself if you do.”
That, of course, did little to keep Sue from struggling. “What the fuck did you do to me?” she demanded.
The man smiled. “You know my powers,” he said.
“You can heat water and you can freeze it.”
“Yep.”
“I don’t understand.”
“The handcuffs you’re wearing,” the man said. “They’re made of ice.”
“No!”
“As a matter of fact yes, and I can keep the water frozen for as long as it takes.”
“For as long as it takes?”
“For as long as it takes to get you to the authorities.”
“But you said no tricks.”
“I said I wasn’t going to escape, and I didn’t.”
“But, but I don’t understand.”
“What don’t you understand?”
“My pussy. How did you—”
“My friend here has the ability to make any part grow simply by touching it.”
Sue moaned as her pussy was once more wracked with waves of pleasure. Her clit felt so big and so sensitive. From somewhere off to her side, she heard the man whisper in her ear. “So you should see what she can do when she licks another girl’s pussy,” the man told her, “but then I think you already know what she can do, don’t you?”
It was sometime later and Blandman and Holly had just left Sue at a local police station where she was now the newest resident in their jail. As she was being locked away, she kept moaning deliriously about wanting to be licked. In fact, that seemed to be all she seemed to be able to say.
“I’m glad you got my signal,” Blandman told his sidekick as the two of them walked to his car.
“Well, I did read the superhero manual,” Holly said.
The man cocked his head. “Did you really now?” he asked.
“Yes,” Holly said.
Blandman didn’t say anything. He just kept looking at her.
Holly shifted nervously. “What?” she asked.
“No one ever reads the manual.”
“Okay,” she admitted. “I read the first chapter. After that, I kind of skimmed the rest.”
“That’s what I thought,” the man said, “and you know what?”
“What?”
“I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”