Last Year's Model - 2

[tortolis]

Last Year?s Model ? 2

Breakfast was like a contract negotiation and a safety lesson: no public displays of strength that might draw undue attention from bystanders, or the police, or the media. No activities that would require Stan to miss meals or sleep, which he had to note in a diary. Rules of the road, fair enough. And turned out Stan was actually booked on Harry?s staff, as a bodyguard, but that was okay too. Harry didn?t really need security and would almost never require Stan?s services ? just occasionally as a status thing, when business associates showed up with their bodyguards at public events. There would be plenty of advance notice.

And though Amber was calculating exactly how great it would be to suck egg yolks and hollandaise out from the gorge between those gorgeous pecs, she wasn?t about to do it with her father right there in the room. So after an offstage cue that only she could hear, she decided that breakfast was over. ?Daddy,? she said, ?I think Stan and I will go out for a little walk. You have a real shirt, Stan? Not that I mind the hillbilly fantasy thing, but??

?Be right back,? he said. When he stood up and turned tail, the ass seemed on a par with the rest of the package. And he moved well. He returned wearing a bowling shirt, or maybe it was for a gas pump boy. ?Stan? was machine-embroidered above the pocket. The short sleeves had a vent notched into the cuff and actually made their way around his biceps, but just barely.

?So cool,? said Amber. ?Love-love it.?

?Yeah, you like?? asked Stan. ?Vintage. It was a gift from the lab. Hard to find clothes, you know. It was gigantic, they had to make it smaller down here.? He noted the side seams next to his incredible abs. If only they?d gone tighter, Amber would?ve been able to make them out clearly behind the cloth.

Never mind. Imagining them was almost as good.

In spite of looking like a big suburban house, Harry?s penthouse had western views of Vancouver Bay out most of the windows; it was an elevator ride down to the high street, where Amber and Stan strolled among the shops. She noticed there was no hair on his forearms. They were graceful and curvy, looking like there were rods under the skin, and the skin looked almost like burnished metal, like the titanium on her Powerbook. No, more like the brushed nickel finish on her new bathroom fixtures.

?So,? she said. ?What does it feel like to be superhuman??

?Great, it feels great,? she said. ?Of course, there are a lot of rules, a lot of taboos, you know. But your father has been really terrific. A lot of the guys in the original program are completely fucked now, but I?m set.?

?Fucked? What do you mean, like Scotty Beal? Did you know him? Is he okay??

?Yeah, yeah, he?s okay, he goes to the same lab I do. But the original volunteers, they got honorable discharges, but the VA won?t treat them. They need treatment, some of them.?

?Well, that sucks.? They had meandered into an upscale housewares and kitchenalia place, and it occurred to Amber that Stan was a bull in a china shop. But he looked magnificent, and he was very well behaved. ?Tell me about your hair,? she said. Stan had a very short cut that lay close on his head. ?You?re out of the service now, right? You going to grow it out??

?Yeah, I?m out, but I like it, and it?s cheaper this way. When it grows out, it?s curly. This way I go to the mall and they use the number-four clippers and that?s that. Why, you want me to grow it??

?No, no, I think it?s sexy,? said Amber. ?It?s severe and medieval. I?m imagining you as a troubadour knight, loving me chastely, defending my honor. You know, Sir Lancelot.?

?Well, that?s rich. Perfect for the one rule your father didn?t tell you.?

?What?s that? Let me guess.?

?Yeah, exactly. We can?t have sex. At least, I can?t. I?m sure you don?t ? ?

?We can?t have sex. Perfect. Why the fuck not??

?Because I can really badly injure a sexual partner. The original guys found that out the hard way. There was a death.?

?Oh my God, with you??

?No, not with me. But still.?

?What about a blow job?? They were back on the street now. ?You?re not one of those guys who bucks like a mule from a b-j, are you??

?A guy could get hurt that way, not to mention?? It was so cute to see him looking thoughtful and subordinate and gigantic all at once. ?No, a blow job should be okay.?

?I?ve got an idea,? said Amber. She crossed the street and led him into a shop called The Pampered Pooch. ?Here,? she said, examining a rack of spiky dog collars. ?What?s your neck size??

?I know that from the lab,? he said. ?They measure it. Seventeen and a half for an Oxford-style shirt, but only if you cut it so that ? ?

?That?s okay, we?re not making a shirt,? she said. She went to another rack and picked out a long leather leash, and they made their way to the cashier?s desk.

?Say,? he said. ?Is it true you know Paris Hilton? Your father says you know Paris Hilton.?

?Oh my God,? she said. ?Give me a fucking break. Paris Hilton. That cunt.? Stan couldn?t keep from laughing; he?d never heard a girl use the c-word, at least not in that way. Amber handed the bag to him as they walked out. ?I?ve never said a fucking word to fucking Paris Hilton. My father saw us in the same picture five years ago and he?s been saying we?re best friends ever since. We go to the same parties sometimes, can I help it? Can you imagine a man saying that about his own daughter? Puh-lease.? They were walking alongside the cars at metered parking, with Amber letting a well-manicured hand droop very close to each one they passed, but not quite touching it. She looked up at the breadth of Stan?s shoulders, at the sleeves pulled almost too tightly around his upper arms. She looked down at the swells of his thighs and his butt. He had an easy, loping gait. You could see he was holding back; it was hard for him to walk as slowly as she did. And it was hard for her to walk as fast as she was trying to. ?You know,? she said, ?I never thought I?d really meet someone like you, even after I met Scotty. But I thought that if I ever did, there would be no end to the things we could do. And now, here you are, and there?s no sex and no public spectacle and no stepping out of line?? They kept walking. ?But I?m thinking: you know how those medieval damsels would drop their handkerchiefs into the jousting ring and a knight would risk life and limb to return it? Well?? She fished her cell phone out of her back and tossed it under a Town Car as they were passing it. ?I seem to have dropped my Blackberry,? she said, and they stopped on the sidewalk.

?In that case, Madam ? ?

?Milady, not Madam. Milady.?

?In that case, Milady, allow me to, to rescue it for you, right?? And he knelt beside the car. His first assignment. He had the feeling this ought to be good, that he should make it dramatic, but it would actually be a bit awkward, and he?d have to take care not to damage the car. He noted the center post behind the driver?s window and gripped the car under the doors, centering them for balance, then lifted it smoothly with a curling motion, and there, near the curb, was the Blackberry. He straightened both arms to tilt the car higher, but yes, it was awkward, he had to change his grip with both hands before holding the car in place with one as he retrieved the phone with the other. The sleeves had gathered below his delts, trying not to rip. He set the phone on the sidewalk, then lowered the car carefully with both hands. What Amber saw as he knelt was the way his shirt strained against his sweeping right lat, the car ascending with his super-hero gesture and no apparent effort, the tricep suddenly jutting out and the extended biceps like torpedoes?she couldn?t take it all in at once. She wanted a replay but there was none, just a slo-mo in her head. No public spectacle, Daddy had said. Did she give a shit? Stan was more god than knight and he was at her service, and here he was, standing in front of her.

?Your Blackberry, Milady,? he said.

She took the phone and looked up at his arm, the arm that had held the car aloft on its own, and now held a paper bag with a dog collar and leash. And she pressed her nose against the upper arm, Stan?s left arm, and encountered a hardness and density that seemed unfamiliar, enormous, beyond what was human. But its abundance and power were so real that everything human seemed paltry and fake. ?Thank you,? she said. ?And now I have something to do for you. To do to every square inch of your body what Michelangelo did to the Sistine Chapel ceiling. But what he did with his brush, I?m going to do with my tongue.? She thought her loft would be the perfect place, even though one of the bathrooms still wasn?t done. And if the contractor?s crew was floating around, she couldn?t care less.

[Ender]

Well I wouldn't really want to get Stan as a birthday present personally... but I would really love to get, at reduced strength, whatever the protocol was that made Stan like that... Although being as buff and strong as Stan is could be fun, being able to have sex with other people would be highly desirable too and I think would be worth a reduction in strength.

Maybe I'm just too intuitive but the implications of a title like "Last Year's Model" seems rather obvious particularly since you have all ready introduced the two models of biologically enhanced bodyguards that are from consecutive version of the enhancement procedure... ie Stan the new and Scotty the old... How things will play out depend on whether there will be a third version of enhanced bodyguards and whether it is "good" or "bad" in the context of the story to be "Last Years Model." Right now there seems to be more chemistry between Stan and Amber and all we know about Scott and Amber is that there is a history of some kind but Amber appears to be concerned about Scotty's well being after being gone for some time. So although it seems likely that in the end either Stan or Scotty will end up with Amber it's too early to predict which it will be.

I could be all wrong on this but it plays very nicely... Although it appears that there is a prevision story in the universe this story is set in, that I must have missed, and the characters Chris and Boot will return in this story... that change all the dynamics of this story.

Ender

[Beasts!]

I'm really enjoying this story. Just a thought, it would be nice to have some kind of flashback so we can know what the treatments and growth were like from Stan's point of view.

Keep it up, excellent pacing, good character development too.

Thanks a lot.

[portamivia]

I simply LOVE this story: nice writing and fantastic characters! More, more!

[Ender]

And maybe some additional data of Scotty and the phase one subjects and why they are appearently is such bad shape, in addition to Stan and the phase two guys...

Ender

[omelissokomos]

I think we'd love-love it if we can read about how Stan became the Man he is today.

[Faust2001]

Great chapter! How about a pool party and Amber showing off everything about her new model?

[philat99]

A few growth chapters or flash-backs would be appealing. Also, how about more detailed info on the failures and the subsequent treatments necessary.
Mike

[portamivia]

Well somebody bumped up a Tortolis story, so here I am with this one: 2008. And STILL no more chapters, damn! This one was so hot.

[tortolis]

forgot all about this story. I'm planning to work on a Chris and Boot installment tomorrow. This one had nothing to do with them but perhaps the characters do inhabit the same universe. If only I didn't have to earn a living.

[Mass Driver]

OK i dont pay enough attention sometimes.
You are the one who put the last comment here.
Nice to know you are still interested in and working on your stories.
Chris and Boot have such a wide range of subject, all contained in a muscle growth
story.
I think it's just as powerful thinking of it as a emotional growth story.
Just please do...
Keep Writing

MD

P.S. I still think the golden goose comment is a good one.

MD