The Manga Girl Read online

“I can’t blame you, man,” Sid had surprised Nick by saying. “We’re out looking for hot chicks and you’ve already got one curled up in your back bedroom. Go get her.”

  The fact was Nick had no intention of ‘getting’ her. Lucy was a paying tenant, and somebody’s daughter, and he had promised her that she could trust him. Besides, if he was reading the wrong signs and he tried something, it could seriously backfire, leaving him in deep shit. He was a college graduate, a house owner, and he had a skilled and satisfying job - so even a desirable little sexpot like Lucy was simply not worth taking a chance on. That said there was no denying the effect she had on him, so self-control would have to be the order of the day.

  As he crept up the stairs trying to avoid the creaking floorboards, Nick’s sole intention was to clean his teeth and go to bed. When he reached the landing however, he stopped. Lucy’s door was partially open.

  He remained frozen in mid-stride, wobbling slightly on drunken legs.

  No, she just forgot to lock it because she was so tired. Let her be.

  All he had to do was go to the bathroom and if he had been cold sober he probably would have, but instead he tiptoed to her door and eased it a few inches wider. Holding his breath, he slipped inside and approached her bed. The light was off, but a shaft of silver-blue moonlight illuminated the room.

  Lucy was laying on her side with her back to him. She hadn’t got under the sheets, maybe because of the heat, but she had managed to slip out of her shorts and was now clad only in her t-shirt and a tiny red thong which disappeared between the cheeks of her smooth round ass. Her shoulders rose and fell gently as she slept. Nick had been furtively ogling this young woman’s body ever since he’d met her, but the voyeuristic nature of this moment caused his cock to stir. This was his first uninterrupted view of the twin swells of her buttocks. The skin was soft and unblemished, and for a long moment he reveled in her feminine presence.

  When Lucy mumbled in her sleep and stretched out a leg, Nick quietly backed out of the room and went to bed.

  ***

  He woke mid-morning, to the aroma of eggs, bacon and coffee drifting up the stairs. The sun was streaming in through the window and outside the sky was blue and clear. Nick rolled off the bed and went to the bathroom, pausing at Lucy’s room on the way. The door was still open and her bed had been made. He gazed at it for a few seconds before doing his ablutions, putting on a t-shirt and jeans, and heading down to the kitchen.

  Lucy was wearing a loose, yellow, knee-length sundress and as far as Nick could ascertain, nothing else underneath. It was the first time he had seen her in a dress.

  “Help yourself to some coffee,” she said. “It should be brewed by now.”

  “Thank you.”

  As Nick sat and watched her busily preparing breakfast, he could just make out the outline of her breasts, hips and buttocks under the thin material.

  “What do you usually do on Sundays?” she asked.

  “Not much. Sometimes I have a little preparation to do for work, but I’ve got a free day today.”

  “Me too.”

  She put down two plates and sat across from him, her cheeks flushed.

  “You really didn’t have to do this,” Nick said.

  “I know. Don’t expect it every day.”

  Nick smiled. “It was very nice of you. Did you rest well?”

  “Back to normal,” she said through a mouthful of toast.

  This was all very unreal to Nick, eating Sunday breakfast with this young and gorgeous Japanese-American art student. He’d had this place for six months and she was the first woman to have slept here. It already felt like she’d been here forever.

  “So I was thinking,” she said. “If you don’t have any plans, we could like, go out for the day.”

  “Go out?”

  “Sure. Summer’s coming over with my bike this evening, but apart from that I’ve got nothing to do. I don’t paint on Sundays. I was thinking maybe, Corey Hill. Have you ever been there?”

  “In Brookline? No.”

  “Me, either. They say the view is spectacular. We could pack some food, have a picnic.”

  A picnic? Nick thought. Sid would just love this.

  He had been considering spending the afternoon in his workshop - which he had been neglecting recently - but how often did you get invited out by a babe like this?

  “Okay,” he said. “Why not?”

  “Great. I’ll get some food ready.”

  “I don’t have much in.”

  “Then we’ll hit the store on the way. Do you have a car?”

  “In for repairs.”

  “No problem, we’ll take the Green Line.”

  ***

  They took the streetcar, and then to Nick’s dismay, walked the impossibly steep hill up Summit Avenue to the small park of Corey Hill Outlook. There were quite a few people around, but they found a quiet corner with a breathtaking view of the Boston skyline. Once he had caught his breath, Nick had to agree it was worth the hike.

  They ate salami sandwiches, tomato and garlic pasta, and sliced pineapple, and drank beer from a small cooler, and watched as people walked, sketched, played ball, and sunbathed. After they had eaten, they lay on their backs on the blanket, smelled the fresh grass, felt the warm wind on their faces, and gazed at the clouds scudding by.

  “Can you believe that this is in the middle of the city?” Lucy asked.

  “It was a good idea coming up here,” Nick said.

  “Mm.”

  “Even if it nearly killed me.”

  She laughed at that and he glanced over at her. She was still wearing the sundress and he could see the points of her nipples pressing up against the fabric. She had her eyes closed and had drawn one knee up, causing the hem of her dress to slip back to her waist, and exposing a lot of thigh. Nick observed that she was wearing a pair of lilac satin panties - as did the occasional male passer-by.

  They talked a little about their families. Lucy had left New York in kind of a hurry, though she didn’t say why. Nor did she reveal what had happened to her mother, although Nick sensed that her indifference was an act. Lucy informed him that her real Japanese name was Natsumi which meant ‘summer beauty’.

  Nick explained that his parents were up in New Hampshire, that he had an aspiring actress sister in LA, and that he’d inherited the house from a great-aunt who had doted on him.

  “I lost my virginity when I was eighteen,” Lucy said out of the blue.

  Nick didn’t know how to respond.

  “How about you?” Lucy prompted.

  “Honest answer?” said Nick.

  She rolled over, resting her chin in her hand. Nick was acutely aware of her close proximity and her ever-fruity scent. “Don’t tell me you’re a virgin,” she said, scrutinizing his face.

  “No,” he answered truthfully. “I was twenty.”

  “How many since?”

  Now it was Nick’s turn to roll over. He looked directly into her eyes and saw that they were filled with bold mischief. He smiled in spite of himself.

  “Are these the kind of questions you should be asking of your landlord?”

  “Yes, I’m interested.”

  Even with his limited experience with women, Nick figured that the picnic invitation and the intimate questions had to be leading somewhere - and like a moth to a flame, he was being drawn in.

  “Okay. One.”

  “One? Oh my God. You loved her and she broke your heart.”

  They were close enough that all he had to do was tilt his head and he could press his lips against hers. He realized that his heart was pounding again.

  “Something like that.”

  He looked deep into her intoxicating eyes for a long moment, wondering if he should make the first move, but Lucy saved him the bother by rolling over onto her back again.

  “I thought I was in love once,” she said simply.

  His bubble burst, Nick lay back and then surprised himself by asking, “Did you ever
make out with Summer?”

  Lucy chuckled, one arm slung over her face.

  “You’ve got a thing about that, haven’t you?”

  “It’s just the way she seems so protective of you. It’s like she’s jealous or something.”

  Lucy was silent for a moment.

  “Alright,” she said. “We tried something once. We slept naked in the same bed. It wasn’t like sex though. Just touching and stuff.”

  And stuff? Nick thought. Who is this girl?

  Abruptly, Lucy jumped up and brushed down her skirt.

  “I want to head back now,” she said, looming over him, all yellow dress and ruffled black hair. “Summer’s coming around at five.”

  When they arrived back home, Lucy’s mountain bike was leaning against the front of Nick’s house with a note: COULDN’T WAIT. HOPE YOU HAD A NICE DAY. SEE YOU TOMORROW. SUMMER.

  Lucy handed the note to Nick, smiled impishly, and then wheeled her bike inside.

  Nick followed her and switched on the TV while Lucy headed upstairs.

  “Mind if I use the bathroom first?” she called down.

  “Go ahead.”

  He flopped onto his sofa and gazed at the screen. It had only been one day and the girl seemed to have taken over already. And yet, as much as he’d always cherished his bachelor’s lifestyle, he found it quite comforting to just go along with the flow.

  Why wouldn’t it be? She’s a babe.

  Channel surfing, he mulled the weirdness of his situation. A couple of weeks ago, he couldn’t have dreamed that his tenant would be a vivacious young girl like Lucy. Even more astonishing was how friendly she had been toward him. Maybe he was just being dense. Sid would have said so, he guessed. Perhaps he had missed all the signs. But there was something else, just out of reach that bothered him. In spite of her sexiness and bubbly personality, he sensed something darker lurking beneath.

  His thoughts were interrupted by a shrill squeal coming from the bathroom.

  “Nick! Come quick! Aah!”

  He raced upstairs and stopped outside the bathroom door.

  “What is it?”

  “Quickly, come in! It’s open.”

  Nick paused for a second and then went inside. The bathroom was full of steam and Lucy was in the tub, the water coated with suds. She had her hair tied back and it was white with shampoo.

  “Fetch my towel please. It stings!” she said through her hands.

  Nick grabbed the towel off the rack and held it towards her. She flailed out and Nick caught her wrist and pressed the towel into her hand.

  He stared at her as she massaged her eyes. Only her head and slender shoulders were visible above the water.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  She nodded. “I got shampoo in my eyes. So stupid.”

  Before he left, Nick took a second to take in the view. Temporarily blinded, Lucy had shifted up in the tub and her lovely breasts were now out of the water. They were flushed and glistening wet, and her dusky areolas were large and puffy. It was another blissful moment of voyeurism with his new tenant and Nick wondered how many more he could take before he did something stupid.

  He closed the door, and with her image firmly imprinted in his mind, went back downstairs.

  Chapter Four

  After their electrically-charged start, he saw little of Lucy over the next few days. They were both on busy schedules, neither bothering with breakfast and each taking care of their own evening meals. Often, one or the other would return home late and when they did run into each other, their conversations remained cordial but Lucy seemed oddly distant. To Nick, it seemed that something had changed.

  “Of course, something’s changed, you moron!” Sid had told him over a couple of beers one Friday. “The chick was leaving her door open for you. She called you into the bathroom where she was butt naked! What more do you need to know?”

  “Wait up. You were the one that said I didn’t stand a chance,” Nick said.

  “That was before. I can’t believe you didn’t get the message she was sending you.”

  “I don’t know. There’s more to Lucy than that. I feel like she’s testing me. But it’s like putting your hand in a fire. Every time I get close, I feel I’ve got to pull back.”

  “Well, it makes no difference now, old buddy. You blew it.”

  “What makes you the expert?”

  “Duh? The girl basically offered herself to you, and you didn’t come through. It’s not going to happen again. Good-looking babes like that don’t chase, you know.”

  “It’s more complex than that.”

  “Really? Okay, well tell me this - is she still leaving her door open?”

  “No.”

  “I rest my case.”

  Nick had gone home with Sid’s words of wisdom ringing in his ears. How could he have been so blind? He let himself in, noting that Lucy’s bicycle was not in the hallway. He ate, checked e-mails, surfed the net, and then decided it was time to turn in. Upstairs, he paused outside Lucy’s door, which yes, was closed. Sid was right, he’d blown his chance. He turned to go to his own room but then something made him stop and turn back. His pulse rate accelerating, he wrapped his fingers around the door handle.

  This was going against the rules, he knew. Despite the sexual tension that had been building up - for Nick, at least - this was an invasion of privacy.

  Better to go to bed, he thought, letting go of the handle.

  But instead of doing that he stayed put, staring at the door, his mind racing. It was risky. She could come home at any moment.

  Okay, in and out. Just a few seconds.

  He opened the door, flicked on the light, and stepped inside.

  Nick was amazed at how Lucy had managed to transform the room in just a few days. She had hung a woodblock print of an elephant above the bed, the beside lamp had been replaced by an orange paper Chinese lantern, the bedspread was a turquoise silk sheet patterned with jasmine blossoms, and on the window ledge was a row of tiny bonsai trees.

  When did she move all of this stuff in?

  In the near corner was her artist’s desk upon which were a neatly arranged selection of acrylic paints, brushes, sketch pads and pencils. Her work in progress was an exquisitely detailed painting of a boatman on a river, the sun setting behind the jagged mountains, its yellow rays seeming to actually ripple on the water.

  This girl’s got talent, Nick thought.

  There was a stack of drawing tablets on one side and Nick opened the top one and began flipping through. These were rougher, pencil sketches of cartoon girls. The style was simpler but no less skilful. All of the girls were wide-eyed and pretty and they all seemed to wear the same petulant expression. As he turned the pages, Nick discovered that a lot of these girls were in a noticeable state of undress.

  He closed the book and sat at Lucy’s desk. There were two desk drawers on the left hand side. The top one, which was unlocked, was filled with an assortment of art equipment. The lower one was also unlocked - doesn’t she ever lock anything? - and another sketchpad lay inside. Nick set it on his lap and opened it.

  The first drawing depicted another cartoon-style girl, but with a startling difference - she was naked and tied to a wooden frame, her arms and legs stretched wide, her breasts thrust forward, her stomach taut. Curiously, even though it was just a cartoon, Nick found himself becoming aroused. As he gazed, something else about the girl became apparent. At first he didn’t get it, but the slant of the eyes, the dark fringe-cut and yes, as he remembered from the bathroom, even the delicious shape of the nipples…My God, he thought. It’s Lucy!

  He began turning the pages with renewed interest - Lucy, bent over a trestle, strapped down, legs splayed; Lucy in a sailor suit, offering her naked bottom to be spanked; Lucy suspended by the wrists, then staked out on a table, and then another one, with a man striking her buttocks with a wooden paddle.

  Nick kept turning, aware now, that he had a full erection underneath the pad. The man - L
ucy’s punisher - appeared in all of the remaining sketches as if he had only recently entered her amorous imagination. Nick flipped back and forth through the bondage scenes, his heart racing. Surely not? he thought. He looked again and then stared at his own reflection in the mirror and swallowed hard. There was no doubting it - the man in the drawings was Nick.

  He replaced the sketchbook and stood. The only thing he hadn’t checked out was her closet, and even as he chided himself for breaking all the rules of decency, Nick found himself going through her clothes drawers. Almost without exception, her underwear was sheer and sexy. He picked up a tiny g-string and held it up to the light. It was light blue, almost see-through, and had a little bow stitched into the waistband. He crumpled it in his hand, and on impulse, slipped it into his pocket.

  Back in his own room, sleep was impossible. Lucy had been on his mind constantly since he had met her, but now her face and body were practically etched onto the insides of his eyelids! He kept seeing her in the bath, picturing those magnificent floating breasts, and now he visualized her lying in her bed and fantasizing about bondage sessions with him!

  He lay with the sheets kicked down to the bottom of the bed, his rigid member poking out of his boxers, Lucy’s g-string in his hand. What was he going to do now? She hadn’t invited him to her room, hadn’t exactly presented him with a whip and asked to be punished. In fact, he had the distinct impression that she was turning cool towards him.

  But those sketches!

  Around midnight a car pulled up outside and then he heard the front door open. His heart quickened and he lay very still. He listened to Lucy padding upstairs and then to the sound of water running in the bathroom. She sang a song in Japanese as she bathed, her voice soft and lilting.

  How could this sensuous creature, with her art and her miniature trees and her easy going manner, be concealing such dark and wild sexual fantasies? He wasn’t even sure now, if he had really seen those drawings. Was his mind playing tricks on him?

  Lucy’s singing stopped, and he heard her light footsteps on the landing and then her door clicking shut. There was no sound of the lock being turned. Was she waiting for him? Nick let out a tremulous breath and slid out of bed. It was time to find out.