I escaped my dorm down the back stairs, so as to avoid any potential elevator risks on my way out. I made it over to Hamilton pretty quickly and fortunately without incident. Finding her room was straightforward enough, and she was in it just like she had promised. She gave me a really big smile when she saw me, and for just a moment I wondered if maybe she wasn't trying to kick me in the balls. But I don't really believe in coincidences, so I stuck with my theory.
She was alone in her room, and she invited me in. As soon as she closed the door behind me I went ahead and asked. “This is about BallsBounty isn't it?”
She just said, “Um,” but the look on her face said it all. She look positively sheepish.
“It's okay,“ I said. “I'm not upset. I just want to make a deal.”
“What sort of deal?”
“Well, I'm in a tough situation with this whole thing. I don't have any idea who's put the bounty on my balls or why. I need to do more digging using the app and try to find out as much information as I possibly can about HindenbergUncertaintyPrinciple.”
“Who?”
“That's the username of the person who posted the bounty. I'm trying to find out who they actually are so I can call an end to this. You'll be the tenth person to kick my balls today. I can't take this a lot longer. I want to be able to have kids someday. “
“And you really have no idea who you've upset?”
“Not the slightest clue in the whole world. I've racked my brain and haven't come up with even one woman who I can imagine that I've slighted enough to want to kick my balls other than my ex Libby, and that was a full year ago, and she kicked my balls at the time. Plus I don't think she has $5,000 to spend on something like this even if she wanted to. And all I did was break up with her when she didn't think that I should. Plus I've heard she's got a new boyfriend. So I just can't imagine it was her, and I can't think of anybody else at all.”
“Okay, so I help you try to work out who your mysterious benefactor is. What else?”
“And in exchange, you get to kick me in the nuts and I won't fight or run away. Oh, but no boots. I couldn't take those today.”
“You think you could take a kick from them some other day?” she asked, in disbelief.
“Well, okay, probably not really,” I said, not sure I wanted to reveal my fantasies to her. “Anyway, do we have a deal?”
“It’s been a long time since I’ve kicked a guy barefoot. Can I have more than one kick if you’re not on the floor after the first one? Enough to put you on the floor?”
“Sure.”
“Okay, it’s a deal then. Kicks first and then we’ll see what we can learn.”
“Okay.” I assumed the standard position, facing her, legs spread apart, hands behind my back. She, however, was still in the process of unlacing her boots. I stood there a little awkwardly, waiting for her to finish. Despite the ache which was still present in my balls, I still felt a certain sense of anticipation. The girl who I fantasized about kicking me was about to.
But the first kick wasn't nearly as forceful as it's been in my fantasies. Instead of a heavy boot smashing into my balls mercilessly it turned out to be a sharp but light kick with the instep of her foot. It was enough to stagger me just a little and I bent at the waist, but it wasn't nearly enough to floor me. She smiled at my reaction and started lining up for another kick.
The second kick was harder than the first but not by very much. This one made me stagger back a little and when I looked up at her, she was grinning at me. Clearly she was relishing getting to do multiple kicks each getting some reaction rather than trying to floor me right away. Really, I had told her she could, so I didn't see that I had much choice but to take it, and honestly it was kind of hot that she was really definitely doing it for her enjoyment rather than just the money. I spread my legs again and she came with another kick this one again just a little harder than the previous one. Once more it was enough to cause me to stagger back a step or two.
Catching my breath, I said, “You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?”
“Well, if I can’t get the satisfaction of flooring a guy with one quick hit of my boots, I have to find my fun some other way. Doing more kicks has been interesting. It’s nice variety, if nothing else. Don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll floor you pretty soon.” Saying that, she gave me another kick, this one definitely harder than the previous one. It struck evenly across both balls, both solid and quick, and I felt my legs quiver and I wound up catching myself on one knee. She continued talking, “And I really wasn’t kidding about not knowing how hard to kick. I always kick the guys on BallsBounty wearing my boots. I know just how hard to kick to make them feel maximum regret without making them have to visit the hospital. But without the boots, it’s a whole different ball game.”
For the next kick, she finally pulled her foot further back and kicked with even more force. The top of her toes really smashed right into my poor testicles distending then suddenly. My stomach tied in knots and my legs got wobbly for a moment and then collapsed, leaving me in a heap on the floor. She let out a little cry of victory seeing me finally collapse. For a moment she just enjoyed her success and then she remembered to get out her phone and take the selfie for evidence.
She hasn't gotten me too badly, though and in a couple of minutes I was back up off the floor. While I'd been down there, oddly enough, I'd finally remembered Brian's Ex’s name. It was Devya. So, anyway, Deyva already had the BallsBounty app out and had already pulled up HindenbergUncertaintyPrinciple’s profile.
“It’s pretty hard to recognize her from the profile picture.“
“Yeah. I've already done the basics. I've looked at her profile pictures and even the profile pictures and evidence photos of all her online friends. I identified one of them, but she couldn't remember who HindenbergUncertaintyPrinciple was. What I realized that I hadn’t done, though, is try to identify her other friends by looking at their friends. I mean, I don’t want to try to carry this to absurdity, but if I could identify one or two more friends, maybe I could find one of them.”
“Okay, so which friend did you know?”
“PatearHuevos is Juanita. I was thinking maybe we could figure out one of the ones with a cartoon picture.”
“So, TallSuperHottie or AnnieTokley first?” she asked, reading off the friend list on the app.
“Uh, TallSuperHottie, I guess.” So she pulled up the friend list for TallSuperHottie. Most of the profile pictures didn’t have faces shown, but as I started looking at the evidence files, I recognized several of the girls. I recognized Jenny and Madison and Amber, and that’s when it came together.
“Those are all Libby’s friends. TallSuperHottie has got to be Libby.”
“She is pretty tall.”
“Yeah, and her ego is big enough for her to put SuperHottie in her own username. Oh, God, I just realized who HindenbergUncertaintyPrinciple is!”
“Who?”
“It’s Zepz.”
“Who?”
“Libby’s roommate from last year. I mean, it all makes sense. She’s friends with Libby. She’s quite busty, so that could be her in the profile pic. And plus, the username matches. Hindenberg as in zeppelin and zeppelin as in Zepz.”
“That does sound likely.”
“Oh, and she was a physics major, so the pun on the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle totally makes sense. How did I not realize this already?”
“Don’t beat yourself up --” she paused for a moment, realized what she’d said and interrupted herself, “That’s my job.” She chuckled a little at her own joke. “But seriously. It only seemed obvious once you knew it. Everything’s easier in hindsight.” She thought for a moment. “So now do you know why she put the bounty on you?”
“Not a clue. I haven’t seen her for months. Really, aside from saying hi once or twice, I haven’t seen her since I broke up with Libby.”
“Weird.”
“I know. I wonder what’s up. Well, I guess I can probably find out now that I know who it is. I’ll text some friends. I’m sure someone knows where she’s living this year. Can I stay here for a bit while I try to figure it out? I don’t want to risk wandering around campus and getting another kick.”
“Sure. But, you know, you might get another kick here, too,” she said with a smile. Despite my fetish, I hoped she was joking. My nuts were still pretty sore from her kicks.
In a few minutes, I had a location. She was living in an off-campus apartment. I knew the building, and although I didn’t have an apartment number, I had a description of the location: third floor, last one on the left at the end of the main hallway. I figured that would be good enough, and honestly, getting off campus seemed like it would probably lessen my odds of getting another busting. I mean, it certainly wouldn’t guarantee any sort of testicular safety, but there definitely appeared to be a large concentration of BallsBounty users on campus, so it seemed like it would be an improvement.
So I headed there right away. It was about eight o’clock, and I figured that wouldn’t be too late to pay a visit and ask what was up. The apartment building was only about three blocks off campus so it only took a few minutes to walk it. When I got there, though, I ran into an obstacle I hadn’t thought of. The front door was locked, and there was an intercom with a keypad that you had to use to call up to the room you were visiting. I didn’t know what number to enter. There was a directory of some sort there, but it didn’t look like it had been maintained, and I didn’t actually know Zepz’s last name anyway. There was definitely no entry which said “Zepz”. I started texting friends again to see if I could either find that number or her mobile number.
I felt stuck there, hanging around the door. There was a decent amount of traffic on the sidewalk, and every time a young woman walked by and looked my way, I feared that it was going to be a BallsBounty member coming to kick my nuts. I felt so exposed there, even though, since it was pretty public, most girls likely wouldn’t chance it. After about ten minutes of standing there, glancing with worry at every woman who passed by, a friend finally came through with Zepz’s mobile number. But she didn’t answer it when I called. After another several minutes of feeling stuck there, a friend came back not with the number for the apartment, but with Zepz’s roommate’s mobile number. So I called that, just as this tall, pretty redhead was coming up the walk to the apartment building with a look in her eye which I felt like I was beginning to recognize. Fortunately, Zepz’s roommate answered. As we started talking, the redhead went by me, giving me a smile, and went into the building.
“Hello?”
“Hey, this is Ed. I’m a friend of Zepz -- well, I used to date her roommate from last year. There’s something I need to talk to her about. Is she home? I’m outside your building. I didn’t realize that I didn’t know what number to call you guys to get buzzed in.”
“No, I haven’t seen her since Saturday. I’m really worried about her.”
“Huh, that’s weird.”
“What is? Do you know something?”
“Well, I might. This is really strange.”
“Do you want to come up and talk about it?”
“Sure, please, just buzz me in, and I’ll be right up.”
So she buzzed me in. I proceeded a little cautiously, looking out for that redhead. I didn’t see any sign of her in the foyer. I peeked both ways down the hallway, and that was all clear, too. I felt a sense of relief. I saw the sign for the stairwell and headed there. I glanced through the window of it, and it looked empty. So I opened the door and stepped in, which is when I realized that she was waiting there for me, her back against the wall, and before I could react, she had spun and landed a low roundhouse kick with the toes of her sneakers rocketing right into my vulnerable nuts. That was one of the most painful kicks I had gotten, and I let out a loud grunt and collapsed in a ball on the floor. I heard the snap of a selfie and then the door closing behind her, but she never said anything to me.
I laid there for a few minutes, and then I managed to drag myself to my feet and slowly climb the stairs. I wanted to get up to the apartment and what would hopefully be safety. As I was nearing the third floor landing, a cute, but very frazzled looking young woman with glasses opened the door and stuck her head in. I was worried that I had another kick coming when she asked, “Are you the guy I talked to on the phone?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Sorry to be so slow. I’m Ed.”
“I'm Emma. Did you get lost? Are you okay? You don’t look so good.”
“It’s kind of a long story.” I’d finally reached the landing, and she started to lead me back to their room.
“Did you get kicked in the balls or something? It kind of looks like it the way you’re leaning.”
“Yeah. That’s actually exactly what happened.”
“Why? What did you do?”
“Well, that’s just it. It’s not something I did. It was something Zepz did.”
At this point we’d reached the apartment. “What?” she opened the door and then stood there in it, perhaps not so sure about me at this point.
“Have you ever heard of the app BallsBounty?”
“Uh, yeah, I think Zepz showed to me. That’s the one where you can offer a reward for whoever kicks a guy in the balls, right?”
“Yeah. Zepz put out a bounty on me.”
“Oh. Maybe I shouldn’t let you in.”
“No, please, here’s the thing. I was always on good terms with her, I haven’t seen her in months, and she did it this morning.”
“This morning?”
“Well, this morning or maybe last night. The first person to cash it in was before lunch today.”
“The first person?”
“There have been several today. That’s kind of why I’d rather talk inside. I’m worried that there might be more. The girl who got me in the stairwell might well tell her friends to come collect the bounty, too.”
“How much is it?”
“Fifty bucks for each girl.”
“What? Okay, yeah, we’d better get you in here.” She stood aside and motioned for me to come in, which I eagerly did. I took a seat on their couch, and she closed the door after looking down the hallway and then sat in a chair.
“That’s part of what’s crazy about this. Fifty bucks is a lot. It’s the maximum allowed on the site. And, on top of that, she put up the money for up to 100 girls to cash it in.”
“Wait, wouldn’t that be $5,000?”
“Yeah. I mean, I know her family comes from money, but that’s a huge amount of dough. It doesn’t make any sense that she’d put that sort of money up to pay me back for something. I can’t think of anything I’ve ever done to her. And if she hasn’t been home, but she put a bounty on me, that’s even weirder. Can you tell me what you know?”
“Yeah, okay, so, like, Saturday night at like 9, she went to a party. It was hosted by some grad students from the lab she works at. It was up on the hill in the neighborhood past the sorority quad. I had studying to do, so I couldn’t go. She walked up there by herself. I went to bed at about 1am, and she wasn’t back yet, which seemed a little weird, but no big deal. But when I woke up in the morning, she wasn’t home and her bed hadn’t been slept in.
“I thought that maybe she’d met a guy or something, even though she’s not usually that fast, but I tried texting her and got no answer. And then, since I was worried, I tried calling, but she didn’t answer that either. We had plans to meet some friends for supper Sunday night, and she didn’t show up for that. That’s not like her. She’s dependable. I mean, she might miss something, but she’d call. And last night she still didn’t come home.
“Last night, I called the cops and reported her missing. They sent an officer out to take a report, but he dismissed the whole thing. I mean, he took the report, but it seemed pretty clear that he thought that she was just out having fun somewhere. I don’t think he really believed me. He saw those couple of pictures over there,” she said motioning to some pictures over on a corkboard, “that we’d taken when drinking together, and I think that he decided that she was just a party girl who was on a long bender.”
“That sucks.”
“I know. I’m really worried.”
“Maybe this bounty is some sort of call for help? I don’t know how to piece this all together.”
“I don’t know what to do either,” she said, clearly quite upset.
“Did you talk to the people who threw the party?”
“No, I don’t remember names very well, and even if I did, I only got introduced with first names and Zepz has their numbers, but I don’t. They were her officemates. I know what block the house was on: I’d been there once before, but the houses there all look the same to me so I’m not sure which it was. I feel so helpless. I want to know if she’s okay.”
“Well, do you know where the lab she worked at is? What professor is in charge of it? Maybe they’d know. I’m sure they’d be willing to help out if we explained the situation. And we can see if anyone there has seen her.”
“I do know that. That’s a great idea. We can go ask Dr. Felton. She’ll know the names of her students and some of them will probably be there.”
“Okay, should we go now?”
“No, not now. They lock the research building in the evenings. You need a key to even get in after 6. Zepz didn’t even have one. She’d text the grad students to get someone to let her in if she was working in the evenings. But we could go tomorrow morning. Are you free? I have class at 10:30, but I’m free before that.”
“Yeah, sure. When do you want to meet? I live in Stanton Hall so it’s basically along your way, uh, that’s assuming you mean the Graduate Science Research Center?”
“Yeah.”
“So, I’m basically along your way. Want to meet at say 9:30 and go over and try to talk to the professor?”
“That sounds good. I’m so relieved. Thank you for taking this seriously!”
“No problem! Thanks for listening to me. Mostly I’ve just been getting kicked in the crotch today.”
Before I left, she showed me the copy of the police report the officer had left with her. I took a picture of to with my phone in case it would come in handy at some point.
Continued in Chapter 5
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