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Chapter Three: Locked up

Max

The bourbon left a distinct taste in my mouth. It must have been made special for this autumn evening. The lights outside the bar lit up a picturesque city filled with varying people going and doing their varying things. The wind was crisp and cold when I walked in, and I counted at least two or three leaves falling onto my tan muzzle.

My green eyes flitted back and forth across the bar. There's a single cheetah nursing some new autumn IPA at the right side of the bar closest to the door, he briefly glances up from his glass and looks at me. I don't say anything and neither does he. He has sky blue eyes and for the life of me I couldn't tell why I stared at him so long.

It had only been two weeks since I'd last seen Dennis. It was only two weeks ago we were going out and making love almost every night. I don't know why he ended it. I was devastated, but I held my emotions in. We ended it on a nice note. It wasn't like anybody was at fault, I think he just wanted to see someone new. So, he was unknowingly saying that I had made a mistake. That mistake could have been many things, but I didn't think about them.

The first week I found myself getting drunk every other night, but now I've stopped. Just one or two bourbons if I happen to be out. Once or twice I picked up a hot guy and had a one night stand, when I was feeling especially pent up.

Now I'm at a bar sipping what's left of my second bourbon, alone now that the cheetah had stepped out. I take the final sip of my drink and stare at the bottom of my wet glass.

***********

I woke up to find myself naked and strapped to a chair. I felt tired and my head was throbbing. My paws were behind my back tied so tight the rope binding them was cutting my skin. A groggy look around the room I was in didn't give me much. It was a big room that looked like a rundown abandoned warehouse. I caught a faint scent of the harbor, it reminded me of that restaurant I had gone to with Lee back in high school.

Several meters to my left a tall and muscular white wolf stands guard by a door, he's carrying some sort of rifle. Several meters to my right lies nothing, but a grey wall obscured by darkness. Directly in front of me a single lightbulb illuminates most of the room. Just where the shadow breaches the light I can make out a figure.

"Ah," I turn to my left and see that the wolf is not talking, when I turn back I can see the figure moving towards me.

"You're awake."

As the figure comes into the light I make out that the figure is in fact a female lynx. She's not the rare arctic kind like Kyle, the guy I had a crush on in middle school. She's a more average lynx with a brown coat. She's draped in leather from paw to paw, everything but her face. Here eyes are a yellowish-brown and I notice that a small part of her left ear is missing, giving it a small crescent shape.

"Where am I?" I ask, knowing quite well that I probably won't get the answer.

"Somewhere safe," She paused, "for now."

"Who are you?

"Your only friend."

"What do you mean?"

"If your boyfriend-" she paused. "I assume he's your boyfriend,"

"Um..."

"Well you were going up to his flat, and you have pictures of him on your phone, and that was obviously his lube on your nightstand."

I'm beyond terrified right now. Not only for my own life, but for Duke's.

"Where's Duke?"

"Duke, just got a phone call Max. Right now he's fine, probably sipping champagne in his luscious apartment or crying alone for his boyfriend, assuming the worst."

I want to scream several four letter words at this lynx, but I know that it won't help. I decided to just ask more questions.

"Where's my shirt?"

The lynx laughed maniacally.

"That's what you want to know! Wow!"

"Why are you doing this?"

"Why not?"

"Who are you working for?"

"Who says I'm working for anyone?"

"I would assume-"

I got a hard uppercut to my face. I sank back into my chair, letting my now bloodied lip gush down onto my chest.

"Alright, no more small talk. I've gotta rough you up a little bit."

"Come on, I'll say anything you want me to say-"

Another uppercut, then a blow to my abdomen, as she prepared for another punch I tried to tighten my chest, but I caved in letting her fist sink into me again. She knew everywhere to punch that caused me incredible pain that got worse with each subsequent blow.

"Please, stop." I said spitting out blood and bile.

She punched me again in the chest, hard. I spat up more thick blood, followed by vomit. The mix left my throat burning and filled with a strange coppery and acidic taste.

"Oh you fucking faggot, you are making a mess. This concludes our session Maxwell, see you later tonight."

I didn't have time to try and reply, her blows had left me to beat to attempt anything. The lynx signaled to the wolf. The white canine opened the door and she stepped out. As the door shut behind her I watched the wolf slip out as well.

I tried to lean back in my chair to get it to flip or fall over and found that it was bolted to the ground. I cough up more sludgy blood and bile. My head starts to feel funny and my vision starts to blur. I'm fervently looking around for a window even though there won't be one there. The single lightbulb is swinging back and forth ever so slightly and it's making my stomach feel even worse.

***********

I'd been staring at my glass for a good five minutes now. Long enough for the bartender, a slim vixen with green eyes like mine, to ask if I wanted another.

"Yeah, one more." I replied, giving her a smile.

I'd been to this bar enough that the bartenders knew my face, at least they didn't ID me.

"One bourbon, neat coming right up." she replied, smiling back at me and sashaying off to wherever the bar kept the bourbon.

I put my head in my paw, leaning on the bar. Absentmindedly playing with my cardboard coaster which featured the angry orchard logo. As the bartender comes over carrying my drink I hear the footfalls of several people coming in. I turn to see what looks like a band of four construction workers just getting off work. They're clothes are nice, but not that nice. There's a husky, a fennec, a caracal, and a skunk. They sit down and start chatting avidly about something I can't make out, but they're still nonetheless loud.

I take a sip of my drink and as the bourbon burns my throat the door opens once again, and that's when I saw him...

*********

My eyes slowly open, as if their lids are held down by hundred pound weights. I don't need a mirror to know that my fur looks all scruffy, half matted down with blood and vomit. I smell awful, and it's doing nothing to help my throbbing headache. I must have fallen asleep, there's no way I stayed awake this long. If that lynx doesn't come back in with food or water soon, I'll starve, then I'll never wake up.

A patch of my tongue is bone dry, and I do all that I can to wet it, focusing on it so much, that I don't notice a lynx and a wolf step into the room, but I hear the door slam. I swivel my head my neck jolts with pain. My blurry vision sees the lynx approach me as she puts her tight brown eyes up to mine. She sneers and slaps my muzzle lightly with a paw. She's right up against me now, I can smell her breath and I know she can smell mine. She's still wearing all leather, this time black.

Her paw darts out and grabs my balls. I have no clue what she intends to do until she tightens her paw. (Its at that time I realize I'm naked). Making me shout in agonizing pain. This was not a little sexual thing, like me and Duke did at times. She grabbed them with the force a baseball player would catch a 90 mph ball, really hard. Her paw was like a vice on me. My weary eyes shut once again...

************

He looked familiar, and it wasn't because we were both German Shepherds. I had definitely seen him somewhere before. He had incredible posture and was wearing a black blazer and a purple dress shirt along with grey pants. He looked like a model, the way he strolled in. He took a spot on the bar a few stools down from me.

He put both his black paws on the bar and ordered his drink. I boldly get up from my stool and take a spot next to him. He turns, smiles at me, and nods. His smile causes electric waves of love to shoot through me, I fell in love with him the moment I saw it.

"You look familiar, have I seen you somewhere," I ask as I casually stick out my paw for a handshake. He gladly accepts it.

"Don't tell anyone, but I'm the CEO of ShepCorp." He said staring right at me. He seemed oddly serious about his request to be silent. I silently cringed inside at the name of his company.

"What's your name?"

"Duke,"

"And yours?" He smiled and I felt my tail brush up against his paw.

"Max,"

Just as I'm about to continue the conversation the bartender brings over Duke's IPA. He puts a paw up and briefly takes a sip as the bartender watches.

"That is a fabulous brew!" He said, wiping a paw across his black muzzle and setting his drink down on a coaster.

"You've got to try it Max, bartender, bring my friend what I'm having."

The red fox scuttled off to retrieve my IPA, and I turned back to Duke. I started to take in more of his features now that he was up close. His brown-yellow eyes glanced briefly back into mine as he took another sip of his beer. He was definitely wearing some sort of cologne.

I decide to go for the more interesting conversation starter.

"I have to ask, Duke why ShepCorp?"

Duke turned from his drink and looked directly at me and smiled. That was the second moment that night I wanted to take him in my paws and give a passionate kiss. He was so damn sexy.

"I inherited it from my father."

"I could guess that, but why the name?"

"My father gave his corporation that name."

"Doesn't it seem a little cliche?"

Duke turned his muzzle from mine and stared at his half empty IPA. I could tell something was wrong, and I didn't know why. It was like I knew him, like we had been best friends for years.

"What's wrong?" I put a paw on his shoulder, not out of selfish want, but actually to comfort him.

"This whole town is a bunch of cliches, a bunch of stereotypes."

I don't say anything, but I can already feel like Duke is going to start ranting and rather than interrupt him I let the German Shepherd speak.

"Corporations are full of a choice few who do good, and a lot more greedy business people who want nothing more than money. Kids are on the streets, old money old values."

I'm struck by his last statement. I was already well aware of the other two things, but his last statement made me think. I rubbed my paw on his back, almost massaging him a little. He turned to me and I saw tears in his eyes.

"This whole town is too old. They don't want me, it's all corrupt. I shouldn't be talking to you about this Max. You're just some guy I met at a bar, oh what the fuck am I doing..."

The group behind me is laughing about something, and their cackles drown out whatever Duke was saying.

"I understand Duke." I took my paw off his back and clasped his in mine.

The bartender brought over my IPA and I took one sip and spit it back out into the bottle. All the while Duke was watching and laughing through his tears. I smiled back hoping it would cheer him up, honestly the IPA was awful it was far too bitter for my taste.

**********

I woke up and her paw wasn't squeezing my balls anymore. Instead I saw a video camera held inches from my muzzle.

I heard someone click a button on the camera, then a voice I didn't know:

"Hey Duke, here he is..."