Testicle Research Part 19: One Nut Waiter's Last Night on the Job

*Note: All characters are aged 18+*

19 year old Billy froze at the entrance to the wine bar and took a deep breath. *Just one more night. Just one more shift.*

He was filled with nerves. Ever since he first got a job as a waiter at the wine bar a year ago, his life had been full of ballbusting torment. All of his coworkers were women and all of them were notorious ballbusters. He couldn't get through a single shift without taking at least a few hits to the groin. Sometimes they were slaps, or as the girls called them "sacktaps." Sometimes casual flicks as they walked past. Or punches. Sometimes even pinpoint accurate kicks from behind.

And that was just the staff. Almost all of the female customers also seemed to be unable to resist hitting a guy in the balls. The amount of times he had taken a kick, punch or squeeze from the customers was beyond count.

There was one customer that he dreaded more than anyone else though. *Caity.* He trembled at just the thought of her name. He reached his hand down and felt his scrotum. A scrotum that only contained one ball. Caity had always squeezed his balls whenever he asked her to pay for her drinks. He always crumbled under the pressure and let her have her drinks for free. What made it worse was that his manager, Jen, never seemed to tell Caity off. Instead, she scolded him for letting her get away with it and sometimes even hit him in the groin as punishment.

One day, a few months ago, Caity had squeezed his right testicle too hard and popped it. He was rushed to the hospital and had to have it removed. Since then, his left testicle was his last one. He cherished it. Every moment he spent inside the wine bar, he dreaded the possibility of losing it. He didn't want to go through the intense pain of feeling a ball pop again. It was worse than anything he could ever imagine. And if he felt it again, it would be worse. Because it wouldn't just be unbearable agony. It would be the end of his sex life. No more sex. No more masturbation. No more erections. No more orgasms.

After he lost his right ball, he was expecting his co-workers to stop with the ballbusting but, to his dismay, the girls seemed to find it all the more funny and just started hitting him even harder. When he told them that getting his ball hit was extremely scary for him now because he was terrified of losing his last ball and explained to them how serious the repercussions would be for him if his last ball popped, the girls just laughed at him and told him that's exactly why they find it so much funnier now. He couldn't believe how cruel girls could be.

But today was his last shift before he moved on to another job he had lined up. It was almost 5pm. His shift ended at 10pm. All he had to do was make it 5 hours with his last ball intact. Then he would be free. His ball would be safe. *It's just 5 more hours. I can make it.* He took a deep breath and walked through the door.

▪︎▪︎▪︎

**5pm**

"Ah Billy. You're here right on time to start your shift," his manager Jen said as he walked through the doors.

"Yes Jen," he said nervously with his head down submissively. Jen had busted his ball on several occasions when he disobeyed her or questioned her orders. Fearful of losing his nut on his last shift, he decided to play it safe and act totally submissive.

"And it's your last shift too," she said casually. "I know the girls sure will miss you."

*I won't be missing them,* Billy thought bitterly.

"Well," Jen continued, "you'll be sharing your shift with two girls this evening. Anne will be working the bar tonight."

At the mention of her name, Anne made her way around the corner. "Hey Billy. How's your nut doing?" She asked with a playful giggle.

Billy didn't answer, offended at her question.

Suddenly, Jen reached out her hand, got a firm grip on his testicle and started to squeeze. Billy gasped and groaned in pain as Jen scolded him. "When a woman asks you a question you answer."

"I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY!" Billy yelled as Jen's grip tightened. Anne just giggled as she watched.

"WELL?! ANSWER HER QUESTION BILLY! HOW'S YOUR NUT DOING?" Jen shouted.

"IT HURTS! IT HUUUUUURRRRRTTS!"

Anne just giggled and said "aww, that sucks Billy."

Satisfied with his response, Jen let go of his ball. Billy cupped his ball with his hand and leaned against the wall.

Anne approached him and said, "don't worry Billy. It's just one more shift for you, then your nut will be safe." Then with rapid speed, she pulled his protective hand away from his ball and, with pinpoint accuracy, gave his ball a flick.

He yelped in pain and cupped his groin again as Anne let go. The light flick just further increased the agony already coursing through his ball from Jen's squeeze. Anne just couldn't stop giggling as she walked away towards the bar.

After about 5 minutes of leaning against the wall and whimpering, he finally was able to stand back up straight again. Jen had watched him the entire time with a look of indifference on her face. "So anyway, as I was saying, Anne will be running the bar and you'll be taking orders from and delivering drinks to the tables with..." the door behind Billy opened, "ah, here she is now."

Billy turned around to see the last person he wanted to share his shift with. It was the brown haired beauty, Karina.

Karina was an 18 year old woman who was taking this job just to earn some cash but her real passion was field hockey. She was a field hockey player at the sports college in town. She was a strong woman. And Billy felt that strength every time she sack tapped him.

Whilst Billy looked at her in fear, Karina looked at him with a look of excitement. "UNIBALL!" she exclaimed as she basically jumped into him to give him a hug. Billy had no choice but to hug her back. "How's my favourite waiter?" She asked cheerfully.

"I'm good... it's... it's my last shift today."

Still hugging him, she moved her head back and looked at him directly with a look of mock sadness. "Your last shift? But you know how much I love our shifts together."

Just then, she brutally brought her pointy knee up directly into his ball with all the strength in her strong leg. "OOF" Billy groaned as he fell to the floor.

"That's for breaking my heart," she said jokingly.

"Anyway," Jen said as Billy was still on the ground on pain, "you both will be doing the rounds on the tables tonight. You both finish at 10pm. Any questions?"

"Nope," said Karina.

"Yes," Billy groaned from the ground.

"What is it Billy?" Jen said with impatience.

"I... I don't want to lose my last ball. Especially on my last night."

"So?" Jen said.

"Can... can you tell the girls not to hit my ball tonight please?"

Jen looked at the smiling Karina, then back at Billy on the ground. "Don't be silly."

Jen then walked away to deal with other matters.

Billy then turned to Karina and asked her, "please Karina. Don't hit my ball again tonight."

"Pffft," she laughed, "as if! You know how much I love sack tapping. Especially on you Uniball."

"Don't call me that."

"But it's what you are," she giggled. "You're a Uniball. You've only got one ball."

"It's not funny."

"Yes it is! Now c'mon, get up. We need to set the tables before opening time at 6."

Jeff struggled to get up but when he did, he limped behind Karina as they went to get the tables set up.

▪︎▪︎▪︎

**5:30PM**

As Billy and Karina set the tables up for the evening, Karina kept making fake out hits to his groin.

As Billy recoiled from the latest feint, he snapped at her. "Will you stop that?"

"Stop faking it? Sure." She slapped his ball hard with the back of her hand. "SACK TAP!"

"Hnnnnngg," Billy bent over holding his ball, "that's not what I meant."

Karina just giggled.

"Karina, listen," Billy begged, "I would really appreciate it if you didn't hit me in the ball tonight. I'm really scared of losing it."

"Oh stop being dramatic. They're only sack taps. A sack tap won't castrate you. That girl who popped righty was squeezing it remember. That's what does real damage. You're just paranoid. Besides, you're being kinda selfish. It's my last shift with you. And sack tapping you is so much fun. I wanna enjoy it while I still can."

Billy gave up trying to reason with her. And he supposed that she was technically right. *Maybe I am being paranoid. Sack taps won't castrate me. Even if Karina does sack tap me really hard. As long as Caity doesn't show up tonight...*

"But can you imagine if you did lose your ball tonight?" Karina spoke up, interrupting his thoughts. "On your LAST shift with us ballbusting girls? When your nut is so close to safety? That would be sooooo funny."

"No it wouldn't."

"Oh get a sense of humour Uniball. Oooo, I know. I have something HILARIOUS to tell you. This should make you laugh."

Billy had a feeling he wouldn't.

"So, today at college, the guy in our sports hockey class got hit RIGHT IN THE BALLS with a hockey stick. It was AWESOME! He said he felt his balls pop so he was taken to the nurse's office and... well... you know me. I can't resist a good sack tap and I thought that a sack tap on a popped pair of balls was too good an opportunity to miss. So... I followed and waited outside the nurse's office. When he came outside I gave him an epic sack tap right in his ruptured balls. It was HILARIOUS! I pretended that I didn't know they were actually popped and his mum seemed to buy it. He had to go to the hospital. I don't know if they were able to save them yet. I'll go round his house tomorrow and see if he's there. I'd love to find out what happened."

Billy looked at her in horror as she recounted the story. Having known the pain of a popped ball, he felt immense sympathy for the poor guy. *And BOTH of them at once?* He shuddered at the thought. *Just one was bad enough.* And Billy was especially disgusted that Karina would sack tap him whilst he was already experiencing the indescribable agony of two popped balls. "That's not funny at all Karina. Popped balls are no joke. And you shouldn't have hit his balls when he was already in so much agony. That's just EVIL!"

"EVIL?! Oh, chill out Uniball. It was just a bit of fun."

"IT'S NOT! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW PAINFUL A POPPED BALL IS! I'VE FELT IT! IT'S THE WORST PAIN IN THE WORLD!"

"You mean the FUNNIEST pain in the world," she laughed.

Billy was seething with rage over how insensitive Karina was being but he tried to calm himself down. He didn't want to risk her hitting his ball.

As she calmed down from her laughter, she said, "anyway, it's nearly 6. This is the last table. Let's get this done."

They finished setting up the table and then headed back towards the bar.

"SACK TAP!" Karina slapped his ball again and he fell to the ground. She laughed then said, "race you to the bar. Last one there gets a kick in the ball." She ran off towards the bar giggling.

Whimpering on the ground in pain from Karina's hard sack tap, Billy knew it was hopeless to catch up to her. *Besides, it's not like SHE can get kicked in the ball if I get there first,* he thought bitterly. Yet, he still managed to get up and limp towards the bar long after Karina had already reached it.

"You took your time," Karina laughed when he finally made it to the bar. His ball was still aching from her slap. "Well, time for your kick. You wanna do the honours, Anne?"

Anne, standing beside Karina at the bar, smiled and said "with pleasure."

Karina then quickly grabbed hold of Billy from behind, placing her arms under his armpits and pulling him tightly against her. She kicked his legs apart with her legs and kept them there as he begged, "NO! PLEASE! IT'S NOT FAIR!"

Anne stomped her hard shoes against the floor, making him tremble at the terrifying sounds. Karina whispered in his ear, "ooooo, those are some hard shoes. If she kicks hard, maybe your ball will POP!" She said that last word with evident glee.

"NO! PLEASE! ANNE! DON'T KICK ME TOO HARD! I DON'T WANT TO LOSE MY BALL!"

Anne just laughed. "I'm gonna miss having you around Billy." She brought her leg back and brought it forward with rapid speed, kicking his ball with pin point accuracy. He felt his ball flatten between his body and her shoe for a brief moment, sending him into a panic at both the intense pain and the anticipation that his ball would pop.

But luckily for him, his ball regained its shape as Anne removed her foot. Karina let go of him. He fell to the ground and once again crumbled into the fetal position to sooth his agonised ball.

"Damn, nice kick girl," Karina said enthusiastically to Anne as they high fived each other.

"Thanks," Anne responded with a smile. "That was awesome."

GONG! The clock struck **6pm**

The wine bar was very fancy, and had an old clock that gonged at every hour. It helped signify when the staff's shifts ended. Billy listened to the gong, and hoped that by the time he heard it at 10pm, he would still have his ball.

"Alright girls," Jen shouted from the entrance, "it's opening time. Get Billy off the floor."

▪︎▪︎▪︎

GONG **7pm**

"Are you the one nut waiter that's the talk of the town?" The upper class, middle aged woman asked as Billy approached to take her order.

The first hour had, thankfully, been uneventful. Karina and Anne had been too busy to bust his ball and most of the customers he had to deal with were men. There were a few women he served but they were all the rare type of woman who didn't feel a compulsive need to attack his male area upon entering the bar. Now, all of the men had left, and all the customers were women. Including the lone, middle aged woman he was serving now. "Y... yes ma'am. That's me," he felt obliged to say.

"Oh, how fun." She reached out and gave his ball a flick, making him lean over slightly and hold his ball while groaning. "Be a dear and get me a red wine please. Oh, and could you bring the manager over when you come back? I'd like a word with her."

"Y... yes ma'am." He limped away towards the bar as the woman chuckled behind him.

As Billy went to the bar where Anne was serving drinks, Billy took a bottle of red wine then called into the backroom to get Jen's attention. "Jen. A woman wants to speak to you."

Jen came out of the back room and wordlessly followed Billy to the woman's table.

When they arrived, the woman held out her glass expectantly as Billy unscrewed the lid of the bottle.

"I was told you wanted to speak to me," Jen said.

"Yes. I was wondering if I could have some entertainment as I relax with a nice glass of wine."

"Of course ma'am," Jen responded. "What kind of entertainment do you have in mind?"

Billy approached the woman's outstretched hand to fill the glass. As he filled it, the posh, middle aged woman looked at him smugly.

Once her glass was full, Billy pulled away and the woman said "I think I'd like it if this young man stood by my side as I drank to do with as I please."

Billy looked to Jen with a pleading look. He knew this woman wanted to inflict some kind of torment on his ball. Jen was unmoved by his pleading look, however. "Of course ma'am. He will attend to your every need."

"Jen," Billy spoke up. "Please..."

Jen grabbed him by the shoulder and spoke menacingly into his ear. "You will do what this woman wants no matter what she asks of you. If she tells me she's unsatisfied with your service... well... I don't think I need to tell you what I will pop."

Billy froze in fear at her words. Jen had given some brutal ball squeezes in the past. He knew her threat was real. "O... ok."

"Good boy," she gave him two light pats on the cheek and addressed the woman, "if you are unsatisfied with his service, tell me and I'll make sure he is disciplined."

"Many thanks," she said with a smile.

Jen then walked away, leaving Billy to his fate.

"Put the bottle on the table boy. Then stand at my side, facing me, with your hands behind your back. Do not move them unless I say you can or I well tell your manager that I am displeased with your service. Is that clear?"

"Y... yes ma'am." He was shaking as he put the wine bottle down on the table, then obeyed her instructions. He stood beside her, facing her with his arms behind his back.

The woman took a sip of her drink. "So... which ball did you lose?"

He didn't dare refuse to answer her question. "The right one ma'am."

"So you only have lefty now hmmm?" She smiled up at him and placed her index finger behind her thumb and slowly brought her hand closer to his groin. Billy could see what she was obviously about to do but he didn't want to risk Jen's wrath. He knew he'd certainly become a eunuch then. So instead, he remained still as the woman held her hand directly in front of his ball. Ready to strike. Then, she snapped her finger upwards with force from behind her thumb.

FLICK!

"Hnnngggh," Billy moaned as a light pain spread through his ball.

The woman let out a light chuckle and smiled. "How did you lose righty?"

FLICK!

"Hnnnggg," he whimpered as she flicked his ball, that was still processing the pain from the first flick, again. "It was... another customer. She..." the woman raised her eyebrows at him. Expecting him to continue talking. "She squeezed my ball so hard it... it popped."

"Oh dear. That must have been so painful for you."

FLICK!

"Hmmmmm, it... it was."

"I can imagine."

FLICK!

"Hmmmm!"

"Well... actually... no I can't," she chuckled. "I don't have balls after all. I have no idea how painful that could be. Or even this..."

FLICK!

"Hnnnggg," he whimpered.

"Still though, this is quite entertaining."

"FLICK!"

"I think I'll keep flicking your ball for the duration of my drink. You don't mind, do you?"

Billy knew what he had to say. "No ma'am. I don't mind."

"You seem to be a well trained boy who let's a woman do what she wants."

FLICK!

"That's how men should be. Subservient towards their betters."

FLICK!

"Oh, what pained faces you're making. This truly is amusing."

FLICK!

The flicks just kept making the pain worse. A single flick hurt badly enough. That first initial sharp burst of pain that spreads through the ball at the sudden impact, followed by a brief respite from the pain for a mere few seconds, only for a deep ache to spread through the ball like a delayed reaction to the pain. The ache just builds and builds to a peak before finally easing slowly back down. This woman kept flicking him though. And worse, she seemed to flick him exactly when he reached that peak of pain. As a result, the ache in his ball was never given the chance to ease down. Instead, the cycle just kept repeating, with each flick making the initial burst of pain and aching aftershock spread throughout his ball again whilst the pain from the previous flick hadn't even died down. So instead of his pain dying down after reaching that peak of pain, the peak just kept rising. With each and every flick.

FLICK!

FLICK!

FLICK!

FLICK!

FLICK!
FLICK!
FLICK!
FLICK!

A tear streamed down his face. The pain just increased with every flick without end.

The woman chuckled as she noticed his tear, then took the last sip of her drink. Billy hoped his torment at the hand, or finger, of this woman was at an end but instead, she gestured to the wine bottle with her eyes and lifted her glass up to him expectantly. "Fill me up, boy."

▪︎▪︎▪︎

GONG **8pm**

Finally, after an hour of constant flicks to his testicle, the woman had finished the bottle of wine. As she gupled down the last of the wine that was in her glass, she said with a smile "well... this sure has been fun but I best head off before I get too drunk. I fear I may be a little tipsy haha. How much am I paying?"

"£20 pounds for the wine ma'am," Billy whimpered. His legs were shaking uncontrollably as his body tried to cope with the hour long torture his ball had just endured. She had fllicked his ball so many times, the peak of pain just kept rising even now after she had stopped flicking him. He was frightened that the pain in his ball would never stop increasing.

"Well, here you go." She took out a £20 note for the wine and placed it on the table. "Oh, and for your fantastic service, here's your tip."

She punched him square in the ball, which just made the intense pain in his ball from an hour of flicks just increase tenfold, as he crumbled to the ground. His legs, finally giving in to the unbearable pain.

"Hahahaha, don't worry. I'll still tell your manager that your service was great. You handled the flicks brilliantly. That punch was mean of me, haha. Anyway, it's been nice spending time with you." She then casually walked away, with a seductive sway in her hips.

As he rolled around on the floor, trying his hardest to cope with the agony, Karina appoached him. "Oh my god Billy. I saw the whole thing. She was flicking your ball for an entire hour. I like her style. She's an inspiration, haha."

Billy just groaned.

"Tee-hee," Karina giggled, "I bet your ball is feeling pretty tender right now. You best stay on your guard. I'm just ITCHING to sack tap you right now, haha."

He couldn't speak, he was in so much pain. He just rolled onto his stomach, cradling his ball to protect it from further torment.

"Ah, screw it," Karina shrugged as rolled him back over onto his back, which was very easy due to his weak state, pulled his cupped hands away from his groin with one hand and raising the open palm of her other hand high up in the air before smacking it down with tremendous force on his hypersensitive ball. "SACK TAP!"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" He let out a high pitched shriek from his extremely tender ball taking an absolutely brutal slap that made the unending peak of ball pain increase tenfold yet again, as Karina mischievously giggled and skipped away.

▪︎▪︎▪︎

GONG **9pm**

*Just one more hour,* Billy thought to himself as he stood behind the bar. *The next time I hear that noise, I'll have made it with my ball intact.* It had been an entire hour since that cruel woman had flicked his ball for 60 minutes straight, followed by a punch and then a brutal sack tap from Karina. The pain had only slightly died down since then. For the last hour, he had been limping from table to table to serve the customers, the slightest movement causing more pain in his ball. Thankfully, no one had hit his ball since the last hit from Karina. Now, he was taking a time out behind the bar. The place was strangely empty for 9pm. Karina was currently serving a table on the far end of the room and there was no other customers. No one was even at the bar for Anne to serve, so she had gone out the back door for a cigarette break. Billy took the opportunity to stand behind the bar with his legs spread. Just to try and give his aching ball some breathing room and to prevent any new tremors of pain from his legs even lightly brushing against it. *Just one more hour and my ball will be safe. I can make it. I'm close to the end now. I just need to make it one more hour without taking any serious hits to my ball.*

WHAM!

Suddenly, he felt a hard shoe kick the bottom of his testicle from behind with perfect accuracy. He fell to the ground and yelped, as the severity of the pain in his ball went straight back up to the height of pain he felt an hour ago.

"Haha, gotcha!" Anne said triumphantly as she stood above him.

"Why?" He croaked. "Why did you do that?"

Anne shrugged. "Dunno. Just felt like it."

"Fuuuucck. It hurts."

Anne chuckled. "Well, that's kinda the point of a nutshot. Anyway, it's the last hour of your shift. The place is pretty empty. So, since this will be our last hour together, I wanna have some fun with your ball. Now c'mon. Spread those legs. I wanna stomp on it."

"No," he begged as he continued to whimper through the pain. "No Anne please. Don't stomp on it. A stomp would do some serious damage. You might pop it."

Anne shrugged again. "Maybe. So?"

"Anne please... I don't want to lose my last ball."

Anne rolled her eyes and sighed. "I guess I'll open your legs for you then." Billy was lying with his stomach on the ground, his hand cupping his ball and his legs scrunched up to protect it. Anne grabbed his legs, spread them apart and pulled them up slightly to give herself easy access to his ball that was resting on the ground beneath his defensive hands. "Move your hands out of the way."

"No," he whined.

"MOVE THEM OUT OF THE WAY NOW OR I'LL MAKE DAMN SURE I POP IT!"

Billy started to cry. Every fibre of his being was telling him to protect his ball but he rationalised that if he complied, she would go easier on him. She was going to stomp on his ball either way. He might as well comply. The risk to his ball's survival was worse if he disobeyed her. So, ignoring his instincts to protect his last ball, he moved his hands out of the way.

"That's better. Now keep them there."

"Just... don't stomp too hard."

"I'll stomp as hard as I bloody well like."

"But.... but I moved my hands out of the way."

"That doesn't mean I won't stomp hard. It just means I won't actively TRY to pop your ball. If it pops, it pops. If it doesn't, it doesn't. I just wanna stomp on it. It's fun."

She brought her leg up high. "NO! WAIT! PLEASE!"

WHAM!

She brought her foot down hard on his ball. Distorting it's shape as it flattened between her shoe and the floor. "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Billy screamed.

"Haha, nice." Anne said with a smile as she brought her foot back up, only to bring it down hard onto his ball once again.

WHAM!

The way he felt his ball flatten had him really scared that it would pop. "ANNE! STOP! YOU'RE STOMPING TOO HARD!"

"I'll decide when I'm stomping too hard."

WHAM!

"ANNE PLEASE! IT'S GONNA POP! IT'S GONNA POP! YOU'RE GONNA POP IT!"

"Shut up!"

WHAM!

He felt his ball flatten even more with each stomp, only to regain its shape again when she lifted her foot up between stomps. It hadn't popped yet, but it was getting close.

WHAM!

"STOP!"

WHAM!

"PLEASE!"

WHAM!

"NOOOOOOOOO!" He cried in anguish and horror as he feared for his ball's survival. He was sure that any stomp could pop it.

WHAM!

WHAM!

WHAM!
WHAM!

"Whoo," Anne exhaled, "This is a good leg workout."

WHAM!

"MERCY, PLEASE!"

WHAM!

After that agonising stomp, Billy gave up hope and resigned himself to the fact that he was about to become a eunuch. He cried.

"Hey Anne," Jen called from the back room. "I need your help with something."

"Just a second," Anne yelled back. She turned her attention back to Billy. "One more big stomp. For old times sake."

Billy braced himself for the pain and the pop. He knew it was going to happen with this next stomp. He just knew it.

WHAM!

He felt his ball flatten once again, and for a second it felt like it did pop. But it didn't. Instead he felt what was almost as painful as a pop but not quite. It was more of a quivering sensation throughout his ball. He had felt that quiver before. It was the painful sensation he felt mere seconds before Caity had popped his right ball. He knew that if Anne kept her foot down on his ball for a few more seconds it would pop. He felt the quiver intensify. Through the indescribable pain, he braced himself for the even greater pain he was about to feel. Along with the life long consequences. *Here it comes...*

Anne lifted her foot back up and let go of his legs. He felt his ball stop quivering and slowly regain its shape. *It didn't pop! It didn't pop!* His ball had been brought an inch from its life but it didn't crumble under the pressure. He still had it.

"Coming now, Jen," Anne said as she turned away from Billy and walked towards the back room, casually dismissing him.

Craddling his precious ball that he had just nearly lost as extreme pain raced through it, he looked up at the clock.

**9:30pm**

*Just 30 more minutes. Just 30 more minutes. I can make it. I can make it!*

▪︎▪︎▪︎

Billy had struggled with all his might to stand up again for a long time after Anne very nearly castrated him but as he finally did he looked at the clock again.

**9:50pm**

He was on the last stretch. *Just 10 more minutes and I'm free.*

Karina was engaged in a seemingly friendly conversation with a female customer at the far end of the room. No other tables were in use. If someone walked through the entrance, Billy knew he would have to deal with it. But he was feeling optimistic now. Aside from that one customer that flicked his ball for an hour, no other customer that night had busted his ball. With Karina talking with the customer on the other end of the room and Anne busy helping Jen with something in the back room, he was feeling hopeful. *This is the last stretch and the coast is clear. I'm going to make it!*

Then... the entrance door opened. Two young women walked in. He recognised them both but one of them in particular crushed all his hope. He struggled to hold back tears. *No. Please. Not her. Not now. Not when I'm so close to the end.*

It was Caity.