Short Story: The Chronicles Of Benjamin Merriman #01
Author Note: This story is an original work of fiction. All characters featured herein are at least eighteen, if not expressly stated, and certain characters may also be found in other works by the authors, published or forthcoming. Feedback is desired and greatly appreciated. Email comments to the address in our profile. Thank you for reading.
Copyright 2011 by Jack and Josephine Cutter.
This story stars: Benjamin Merriman, and features Caroline Cassidy, Courtney Daly, Jacquelyn Atkinson, Robert Phelps, Melissa Golding (unnamed), and Frank Merriman.
This story contains: male-female erotic couplings, fellatio, cunnilingus, anal and analingus, cheerleaders, bikinis, male dominance, deadbeat dads, socialite brides, philandering fiancés, beautiful women, and a budding private detective with significant sexual skill.
This story begins on Friday, September 9th.
* * * * *
It goes without saying that my high school life was not what you might call normal. I was eighteen and a senior, and that is where much of the normalcy ended; typical high school seniors do not have the kinds of experiences that marked my first year of official adulthood.
They do not have to deal with crime rings, sleazy politicians, wealthy socialites, corrupt cops, dangerous criminals, deadbeat dads, missing persons, corrupt cops, illicit dealings, breaking-and-entering, infidelity, secret gambling halls, drugs, high-priced escorts, underground brothels, etcetera, etcetera. I've dealt with those things and more, and all before I graduated.
My name is Benjamin Merriman . . . and these are my stories.
The Chronicles of Benjamin Merriman, Volume the First
It is my belief that each person in the world is blessed with some definable characteristic that sets them apart from the rest. An inherent advantage, above and beyond the norm. Some might be blessed with unusual speed or strength. Others might find they possess heightened intellectual. Some such talents are easily discovered, but many are difficult and thus never fully realized. Mathematical skill, brute power, keen wit, an artistic eye; these things are definable blessings, and if you look back through the annals of history, you'll find plenty of folks who had them.
I'm going to go right ahead and be honest with everyone from the beginning, and likewise throughout; I've got a few special talents myself, but there is one above the rest: it seems I'm blessed with an inordinate amount of luck. Simply stated, I'm a pretty lucky guy; things always seem to work out well for me, no matter how difficult they might seem.
Take high school, for example.
It did not begin well, let me tell you: my first two years were not the best. I was invisible, a tall, gangly kid with skin troubles and a warbling voice. Girls, therefore, were a complete non-starter. Introverted, shy, unexceptional in every way, and with limited fashion sense, I was the typical invisible high school male, quietly walking the fringes. It was what I knew, however, and I was content with my situation because I knew nothing different.
The summer between my sophomore and junior years, however, changed everything. Physically, I sprouted: my body filled in, my gangly limbs took on definite shape, my skin cleared up, and my voice deepened into its adult range. A series of interesting and rather fortunate events, which shall be later revealed, really did a positive number on my self-esteem, too: my confidence grew by leaps and bounds, to the point where by the time I returned to school the following September for the start of junior year, I was a completely new person.
High school is high school, however, and once established roles and reputations die hard; my transformation went largely unnoticed at first by the students at my school. While I did start to get my fair share of odd,
who-is-that-guy-and-where-did-he-come-from
looks from a few of the more astute girls as junior year wound down, I remained mostly a fringe-guy, content to slip through the high school cracks. I can honestly say it did not bother me, for while the girls inside my own school did not pay much attention to me, girls outside the school certainly did -- and those girls had no knowledge of my unimpressive formative years. Let's just say my confidence was high.
It wasn't always this way, however.
Like I said, before that fateful summer times were tough, and not just at school. My mother passed away when I was eight years old, leaving me and my father and my older sister to figure things out as best we could.
My father is Frank Merriman, forty-six years old, and he owns Discretion Investigations, a private investigative firm here in my beautiful home city of Los Angeles. We're based out of Beverly Hills, which is nice as it provides my father plenty of wealthy-person business. My dad is an ex-cop, which means he is well-informed, well-connected, knows his way around, and is very good at what he does.
My sister's name is Keri. She's twenty-two years old and will soon be graduating from the University of Southern California, and she's going to be a lawyer. She is currently applying to lots of big-name law schools. My father says she looks exactly like her mother, which must have been awesome for dad because everyone pretty much agrees that my sister is one of the hottest females on the planet. For a pair of opposite-sex siblings not too far apart in age, I have to say the two of us have always been close, which is really nice and has helped me greatly over the years.
After nearly a decade, Dad finally remarried last year, which is an interesting story and worth recounting. My mom and dad were sweethearts from a very young age, and he's always made no bones about the fact that my mother was the one true love of his life; this, of course, turned many women away from a man who was, to use a rather overused cliché, the most eligible bachelor on the block.
While some women might (and did) feel threatened by or uncomfortable with a man who puts such information out there, Angela proved a different sort right from the start. She's thirty-six with an early twenties body, blonde, beautiful, and pampered, and that's exactly the way she wants it. My father has money, she wants money, neither is looking for love everlasting, she gets the creature comforts, and my dad gets a gorgeous wife in the sack every night. It's a fantastic arrangement. In fairness, Angela is also a nice woman, very easygoing if a little spoiled, and she and my father make each other very happy.
Heather, however, is another story all together. Angela's eighteen year-old daughter is a real piece of work: hot and blonde (just like her mother), but a total bitch. She's not only hot, she's hot and she knows it, and she acts like she knows it. I can count on one hand the number of times I've talked to her for longer than two minutes in the past year. She couldn't care less about unimportant people, which is practically everyone, and lets the unimportant people know it.
Back to me for a bit.
It's well-known that ever since I was old enough to walk, I've wanted to follow in my father's footsteps. While my father has not tried to encourage my interest in private detection and investigation, allowing me the luxury of deciding for myself, he has not
discouraged
it, either, and I know he is excited by the prospect of having his son follow him into the family business.
One of my counselors at school once asked me how I thought a shy and introverted guy such as myself could possibly become a private detective, where it would seem such qualities would be a hindrance. They are a hindrance, of course, but not for me; you know how some people act and feel in different ways given the circumstances? That's me. In school, my school, I'm still the shy and introverted guy I've always been. Like I said, it's hard to shake reps in high school once they've stuck. Outside school, however, I'm the complete opposite: no problem talking to girls, outgoing, aggressive, confident.
It's an interesting dichotomy.
The deal with my dad was this: when I turned eighteen and it became legal for me to do several things important to investigative work but not permissible by law for minors, I could begin training on an official basis with my father's firm -- I'd be unofficially training for years, of course. He also did this to ensure I got decent grades, which I could have gotten standing on my head in the corner all day long; school was always just an easy thing for me.
Well, the bottom line is I turned eighteen on August 09, and as such that is when my story begins to unfold. The speed at which things began to happen truly amazes me, thinking back on it, and I doubt anyone would have guessed that one year later, I'd be where I am right now.
The Discretion Investigations team is as follows: Veronica Thompson, 28, a member of the investigative team who has been with the firm for six years; Beau Nivens, 38, one of my dad's best friends, has been with the firm for twelve years, and became a family friend after my dad busted him as a kid trying to boost car stereos in South Los Angeles; Harriet Edmonds, gray-haired and grandmotherly, the firm's administrative and secretarial person; and last, but certainly not least, is Caroline Cassidy.
Caroline deserves her own special paragraph, because throughout my most important teenage years (fourteen, my age when she was hired, to eighteen, my current age), she has held the distinction of "Go-To Fantasy Girl". In other words, most fantasies I've had growing up, as long as I have been having fantasies, have involved Caroline Cassidy.
When I turned eighteen, Caroline was a newly minted twenty-four year-old. Perhaps I should describe her for you: take Marisa Miller's body, add Brooklyn Decker's fantastic tits, and the incredibly sculpted ass of Jessica Alba, and then imagine the hottest chick you've ever seen with natural, golden blonde hair and bright blue eyes, and maybe you have an idea of just how smoking hot Caroline is. The woman is a fucking Barbie doll come to life.
