Despite her advanced age of nineteen and her spectacular endowment, honey-haired, hazel-eyed Joyce Howard was a sweet and innocent virgin ... that is, until she met Eddie, and the good-looking ex-con quickly robbed her of her virginity. Joyce soon found that she was also to lose her innocence ... as a stream of hard-nosed ex-cons filed through the door of a squalid back room where she lay, handcuffed and terror-stricken. Joyce began to wonder if she had anything left to lose, and she also wondered-Did she really mind?
1
Joyce Howard looked at her image in the mirror and touched the lipstick to her mouth. She frowned as she glimpsed Anita moving behind her in the room, hands on hips, face scowling.
"For crissake, Joyce, start acting your age," Anita scolded. "You're not a kid anymore. It's about time you started going out and being with people. You wanna live the rest of your life in this crummy furnished room?"
Anita swept her arm in a gesture that took in the drab, dreary room with the tiny kitchenette behind the folding doors at one side and the closet and bath doors opposite. Her look made the room even shabbier than it usually seemed.
Joyce bit her lip, then had to clean the smear of red from her teeth. "All right, all right," she said, trying to sound surer than she felt. "I said I'd go and I'm going. I won't back out now..."
Anita shook her head and sighed. "Good lord! You'd think I was asking you to go on an expedition to the moon instead of a date! This is supposed to be fun-you know, girl goes out with boy, girl has a good time!"
Joyce turned and faced Anita. "All I said was I'm scared."
Anita threw up her hands. "Scared? What of? Jeez, Joyce, you're nineteen years old, not twelve. You've been in the city almost a year now." Anita walked over to Joyce and put her hand on her arm. "Your folks have been dead over a year. Besides, they wouldn't want you moping around, being lonesome the rest of your life. You gotta start getting out, seeing people, dating guys."
"I know but-"
Anita shook her head. "No buts. I'm not gonna listen to you any more. Come on now, finish your face. Steve and his friend will be here any minute." She smiled and squeezed her arm. "I told Steve I'd be here in your place, okay?"
Joyce nodded and picked up the comb from the dresser and began to pull it through her shoulder-length, honey-colored hair. She studied her face in the mirror and tried to be objective about it. She wasn't really pretty, she knew, but Anita kept telling her she had good features. Her hazel eyes were wide-set and clear, her lashes long and full, like a smudge of chocolate on her lids. Her nose was perhaps a bit too long, but it was thin and straight. The red lipstick she'd applied widened her mouth and emphasized her pretty smile. The total effect of her face with its frame of sparkling hair was pleasant and friendly.
The doorbell sounded and she turned quickly, a look of panic shading her eyes.
Anita held up her hand. "Easy, girl. Remember to smile." Anita grinned at her, and Joyce swallowed her panic.
It was a date ... that's all. A blind date, arranged by Anita. She had nothing to worry about. Yet the tiny remnant nagged at her brain. She hadn't been out with any boy since both her parents had died in an auto crash more than a year ago. She hadn't dated anyone since coming to the city from the small town where she'd grown up and gone to school. Even there, she had not gone out much; there had always been chores at home, and she wasn't pushy or wild like so many of the girls in her class. She'd been lucky to get the job in the insurance company office with the help of her typing teacher. It had been a blessing to move after graduation, after the double funeral and the tears and pain of her loss.
But the new life she was to start in the city had never quite materialized. Instead it was a dull carbon copy of her former existence, only lonelier. She'd met Anita in the office where she worked, then discovered they lived only two doors from each other. They began visiting back and forth a little outside of working hours, riding together on the city bus each morning. Sometimes they rode together after work, too, but more often than not Anita had a date and didn't go home. And it had been Anita's idea to arrange this date for her. And now it was too late to back out. They were here.
Anita had the door open and was laughing easily with the dark-haired man standing outside. She reached and pulled him into the room. She leaned past him and called out to someone in the hall.
"Come on in, Eddie."
The second man strode into the room. Eddie. This was her date, Joyce thought. She was surprised at his appearance. He was very definitely good-looking. His dark hair waved back from his face and came in long sideburns on his cheeks. His eyes looked almost black in the light from the lamp near the door, and his thin face had a gaunt, hungry look that made Joyce think of a cat stalking a mouse. His ready smile caught her, and she smiled back at him.
"Joyce, this is Eddie Adamo," Anita said as she swung the door closed. "Eddie, Joyce Howard, the girl I told you about."
Eddie nodded, his smile and eyes still on Joyce. "Yeah. Hi, Joyce."
"Hello." It was a very soft sound in the room.
Anita went on. "This is Steve Perkins." She slipped her arm through his possessively and hugged him. Steve's hand slid across her back and cupped itself over one of her breasts, but she did not pull away.
Joyce looked away as the blush crept up her neck. Anita was a petite, curvy brunette, and she talked openly of sex-so much so that Joyce had always turned the conversation to safer channels in embarrassment. Joyce had never been able to discuss personal matters readily with any of her friends. Maybe Anita's attitudes and quips had been part of the reason she had said no to a double-date arrangement for so many months.
But she'd given in finally ... and the man was looking at her, waiting for her to say something. She turned away and searched for her purse. Behind her, Anita whispered something she could not make out, and when she turned, the three others in the room were watching her. She tried to smile.
"Let's go," Anita said brightly and flashed Joyce a quick grin.
Eddie waited for the other couple to go out, then he stepped back at the door to let Joyce exit first. He pulled the apartment door firmly shut. "Got your key?" he asked, smiling easily at her again.
She nodded. "Yes." Her voice was still hoarse and weak.
Outside, Anita was climbing into a red car parked at the curb. Steve paused to unlatch the back door of the car as he slammed the front one behind Anita, then circled the car to get behind the wheel.
Eddie let Joyce climb into the back, then slide across the seat so he could scramble in beside her. He yanked the door shut, and the car was in motion almost immediately.
Joyce stared ahead, unable to find words to make small talk with the stranger at her side. Anita had said they were going to a show. At least she wouldn't have to talk during the picture. She was glad of that. It would give her time to compose herself and get used to the idea of the man she was with. He hadn't talked much, but she felt his eyes on her almost constantly. Her experience hadn't taught her to read his stare correctly. She had no idea if he liked her or not.
In the front seat Steve and Anita were chattering happily. Anita sat very close to her boy friend, shoulder to shoulder. From time to time she would laugh and stretch her neck so she could kiss Steve's cheek or neck.
A front window was open a few inches, and Joyce felt the cool spring breeze on her face. It was April, changeable and neither cold nor warm. The days had begun to be pleasant, but the nights were still chilly and brisk. But winter's backbone was definitely broken, and the gray snow that had clung to the sidewalks and gutters for so long was melted away. Joyce loved spring, the fresh new smell of it, the clean, invigorating air ... For weeks now she'd been nostalgic and a little homesick for the small town and the people she knew there. Maybe the semisad state of mind was what had lowered her resistance to Anita's prodding about the double date.
She came out of her reverie with a start. They were on the freeway, circling the city. She had assumed they would go downtown to a movie theater, but they were heading out of town. She watched the fleeing landscape, then saw the high, white screen at the side of the road ahead. A drive-in movie! They were going to a drive-in. The idea made her vaguely uncomfortable.
But it was too late now. They were already at the ticket window, and Steve was passing a bill over to the girl behind the glass. The girl smiled sweetly at him as she handed out the tickets and his change.
"Thanks, baby," he said. He slid the car in gear again, and they moved down the curving ramp to the theater. Steve selected a spot where no other cars were parked nearby and jockeyed the car to the speaker. He pulled the set into the car and hooked it over the window, which he rolled up until it was almost shut.
He slid down in the seat and stretched his arm across the back. Anita moved into its circle immediately. "Think we'll need the heater, baby?" Steve asked.
Anita giggled. "Not-likely, honey, not with you here to keep me warm."
"What about your friend in back?" Steve's tone held a tiny note of laughter.
Anita giggled. "Eddie can thaw her out." She smothered another giggle.
Joyce felt her face grow red once more. They were talking about her as though she couldn't hear them, as though she and Eddie weren't right there to listen to their crude suggestion. She dared not glance toward the man sitting beside her. He had made no move toward her, no attempt to sit closer or put his arm around her. She was thankful for that. Maybe he was not like Anita and Steve-maybe he was as shy as she on this blind date.
The music cut off the speaker, and the first sounds of the picture came on. Joyce relaxed and shifted so she could see the screen better. A few minutes later, she was engrossed in the make-believe world of the movie. It was a war picture, with a lot of noise and shouting. From time to time she could see Anita turn to her date and lift her face for a kiss. Joyce tried not to look, concentrating on the screen, losing herself.
She wasn't aware that Eddie had moved until his arm was around her and he was pulling her close.
"Don't!" she whispered, but he seemed not to hear. His arm tightened, and she felt his breath on her face. She struggled to free herself, but he leaned over her and pressed his mouth to hers. She felt the wet, slimy tongue race across her lips and force itself between them. She tried to clamp her teeth tight, but his kiss was cutting off her air. and she had to open her mouth to breathe. He speared his tongue against her at once.
She gasped, unable to fight against the strength of his arms which locked her against his body. One of his hands slithered up her leg, over the cloth until it rested at the juncture of her thighs. She felt the hard, warm pressure and was powerless under it. She held her breath, willing him away, trying to concentrate on his stopping the obscene play.
Her glance flitted toward the front seat, but the two heads had vanished. She thought she heard small, whimpering cries as an undercurrent to the sounds from the speaker. Horror swept over her as she realized what was going on in the front seat. Anita and her boy friend were making full use of the dark interior of the car, paying no attention to the picture that flashed in brilliant color in front of them.
And Eddie thought he could do the same with her! She should have known better than to come here! Because Anita was free with her body, Steve's friend had assumed he would get the same kind of girl. He actually thought she would allow him to ... to ... Her mind blanked and she fought at his hold on her. She beat her fists against his back and shoulders, tried to pull his hair.
He jerked away from her mouth with a startled cry as she clawed at his neck. "Christ! What the-" He released her and rubbed his neck. "You're a little hellcat, aren't you?" he said, laughing slightly and making no effort to lower his voice.
Joyce was sure the two in the front would hear, and she glanced that way quickly but they did not appear. Eddie grabbed her again and crushed her in his arms. She felt the hard pressure of his ribs against the swelling of her breasts. One hand grabbed a mound and mauled it harshly. She gasped again.
"Stop!" she demanded.
He snickered. "What s'matta, doll? Doncha wanna fuck around a little?" He leaned over and caught her mouth again.
When she could free it, she said, "Stop! You can't-"
His grip tightened on her breast and he laughed softly. It wasn't a pleasant sound, and Joyce felt a moment of fear. She had to stay calm and keep her head. "Don't-" she said again. She glanced at the front where the other couple were still out of view.
"Don't bother your girl friend now, baby, she's plenty busy," Eddie said. His tone was leering.
A smothered cry came from the front of the car, and Joyce instinctively pressed forward. At that instant, a leg kicked upward, naked and jerking in excited spasms. Another cry, one she understood this time. "Ohhh, yeeaahhh, ooohhh, I'm coming, I'm coommiinngg!! " Anita's voice rose above the drone of the voices and music from the speaker. The leg thrashed in the air, clamped down over the humped form of Steve. The reflection of light from the screen ahead of them was enough to show Joyce the man's naked buttocks as they heaved up and down, in and out of her vision.
Joyce almost forgot about her own predicament. The sight she glimpsed in the front of the car filled her with horror and strange, vague feelings that she did not recognize. The man at her side was quiet except for his heavy breathing. It was as if he were waiting for her to absorb the action ahead of them. His hand was on her thigh, firm and insistent.
She looked at him with wide-eyed terror. His hand moved toward her knee, found its way under her skirt, started up her nearly bare flesh. His fingers caught at the top of her thighs and tried to find a way through the sheer layer of panty hose. He jerked at the thin cloth, then ran his hand up the rounded hip, his fingers mashing and kneading all the time. He caught the elastic at her waist. She tried to squirm from his grip, but his body pressed her into the corner of the door and seat. He was smiling, his white teeth gleaming in the dim interior of the automobile. She could hear his breath rasp in his throat. She could not move.
The hand hooked under the elastic and began to pull the cloth down. His palm was hot on her naked belly as he worked the panty hose and her underpants down at the same time. The wrinkled nylon caught at her crotch and hips, and he dug his hand under it impatiently.
"Spread your goddamn legs, baby."
"No..." It was a hoarse whisper.
With a sudden move that surprised her and caught her off guard, he pulled her body toward him so she slid halfway down the seat. It gave him room to work more at the clothing, and in an instant he had the garments past her hips and sliding down her thighs. His hand pressed hot and hard between her legs and forced its way into the crevice of her crotch.
Joyce could not control the shiver that jolted through her. She opened her mouth to scream, but the noise that came out was a whimper that she did not recognize. She was thoroughly frightened, wanted to cry out, escape-but she was trapped. He seemed to read her thoughts.
"Don't scream, baby. No one will hear you."
She glanced around the small space of the car, out the windows to the shadows of cars nearby. The music from the speaker, the loud, sharp sounds of the movie warfare screamed in her ears. She knew he was right. No one would hear ... or care. In the front seat, she could see occasional glimpses of Anita and Steve, naked bodies twisting and moving together; she could hear their whispers and their laughter. They would not pay any attention to what was going on in the back seat. They were too busy on their own.
Eddie's hand was between the folds of her vaginal opening now, pushing and insisting. She felt little waves of tingling sensations race through her pelvis as he grabbed the small bud of flesh of her clitoris and began to manipulate it. She swallowed hard and fought for her breath. Something very new and very strange was taking place inside her, and the uncertainty of her own feelings shocked and frightened her.
"Nice twat, baby. Oooo yeah, I like that pussy. It's getting wet for me. You want to fuck now?"
She stared, unable to speak. This thing couldn't be happening, it couldn't. She bit her lip. The double date had become a nightmare, but one from which there was no escape. She could not waken and rid herself of the dream. It was here and it was now and it was real.
His fingers were digging inside her now. She felt her flesh begin to grow damp and warm. Her mind refused, but her body was responding without her will. The tingling ripples grew longer and harder. She shivered again.
"Spread the legs, baby ... spread 'em."
Hypnotized by the gripping feelings in her belly, she obeyed his command. She moved her legs, pushed her body down farther in the seat so she was almost lying across it. He leaned over her, his breath warm and moist on her face.
"Feel my prick, baby. God, I'm hard for you."
When she didn't move right away, he jammed his hand deep into her cunt. She moaned as a hot, washing wave of pleasure swept through her.
"Grab me!" he ordered. His free hand clutched her wrist and forced it down his body. Her hand scraped on the teeth of the zipper of his fly. He had somehow opened it without her noticing, and now he forced her hand into the gap of the cloth.
"Oh!" Shocked, she gasped as she felt the hot, hard poker of flesh that sprang into her fist. Without conscious thought, she closed her hand around it. It throbbed, and he jerked his body so the organ slid inside her clenched fist. The heat was unbelievable, and his movements made the core of the shaft slide back and forth inside its sheath of loose skin. She was fascinated by the new sensations it brought her. She had never felt a man before, never even come close to one's private parts. She concentrated on the delight of the thing she held. He kept moving his body, and soon she was moving her hand as well. She felt the stiff ridge where the bulging head met the hard column, slid her palm over the searing, silky smooth, rounded dome of the head. She whimpered when the first drop of his hot fluid seared her flesh. She moved her hand faster, still faster. He made a sound that was almost a growl.
He moved very suddenly and quickly, slinging his body atop her and jerking her prone on the car seat in the same motion. Her legs were cramped, and she had to bend her knees up to relieve the pressure. His weight was on her, his hot crotch, the naked throbbing penis jutting from his pants and pressing between her legs.
She caught her breath with sudden awareness of what he was going to do. His hand had left her body and gone to her breast again as his sex organ speared between her legs. She tried to pull away, but there was no room in the cramped quarters of the seat. He was too heavy on her. Too hot. She felt the scalding heat of his penis at her vaginal opening. The wet, hard, smooth tip slammed at the folds, spread the vulva, began the penetration.
Weakly, she whispered, "No..."
He grunted and the hot lance pierced her cunt. For a moment she was caught in the horror of knowledge, but it was quickly swept away by the hot desire and pleasure that came as he jabbed the fiery cock into her all the way. She could scarcely breathe. The sounds of the motion picture screamed inside her head, the dimly lit car faded from her vision and bright lights blazed inside her skull. She had forgotten everything but the new, heady sensations that filled her. Her body had become its own master, willing her to accept the hot cock, demanding fulfillment and passion. She squirmed under him, clamped her knees at his sides, held him close. His face loomed over her only inches away. His rasping breath fanned across her nose and mouth. She felt it in her own open mouth, drying her tongue as she tried to lick her lips and talk.
But there were no words for what was happening to her. She felt her body tense, throb, quiver. He grunted, slammed harder and faster into her. She whimpered and raked at the back of his sweater until she found a way under it, then clawed at his bare back. It drove him to new frenzy, and he whipped her with his body.
The pressure in her belly became unbearable. It was like tons of water behind a dam, pounding surf against the wall. She sucked a huge gulp of air into her lungs and held it as the moment of passion reached its peak. He hissed air between his clenched teeth. She wasn't sure she heard him when he said, "Christ Almighty! Here it comes!! ! "
Even in the wild passion her body had found, the next sensation shocked her. The dam broke and her pleasure flooded through her. Huge hot waves of delight spread in her belly. They rippled, undulated, forced her body to rise and fall with their tide. She moaned and whimpered, cried and sobbed. The waves flooded and broke anew. She was only vaguely aware that something had happened to him also. There was a new pressure beating against her own, a new heat merging into hers. She heard soft, wet, smacking sounds as their bodies came together and separated, only to come together quickly again. It was minutes before she realized that he had ejaculated his hot load of semen into her. It oozed and seeped through her cunt and warmed her entire body. It was a long time before he slowed his movements and came to rest on her. He barely supported his weight, and his face was pressed to the car seat at her shoulder. She could still hear his heavy breathing as he recovered from his exertion.
She lay under him, and shame overcame her. She had let this stranger, a man she barely knew, take her sexually! The thought brought instant tears to her eyes, and she blinked hard to force them back but they would not go. They overran her lids and coursed sideways down her face silently.
Finally Eddie pushed himself up and pulled his deflated cock out of her. She made a tiny sound which she cut off abruptly. She couldn't admit even to herself that she enjoyed the warmth of him in her and his departure was a cold shock. The stuffy air of the car felt icy against her hot, sweaty flesh as he drew himself away from her body and sat on the edge of the seat.
She struggled to get her legs around his form and sit up. He pushed back, pressing his feet to the floor and raising his hips so he could draw his pants up over his torso. From the corner of her vision she saw him take a handkerchief from his pocket and wipe his cock off before he fastened his pants over it.
Joyce felt the hot, heavy blush creep up her neck and face. What had she done? The tears still stung her eyes, and she bit her lip to stifle the sobs. Her panties and hose were tangled around her thighs; she felt sticky and soiled. Already the thick wad of juices was slithering down her crotch and making her thighs tacky. She found her purse and dug in it for a tissue. With her face turned toward the window so she would not see him, she tried to clean herself. She needed a second tissue to mop up completely, then she quickly wriggled back into the garments. She could not bring herself to look at him. Or to speak. She smelled the tangy aroma of smoke and saw it stream past her as he exhaled. She stared stonily ahead at the screen without seeing the picture.
2
The rest of the evening was a nightmare. Joyce moved through it in a daze. Eddie didn't mention the thing that had happened between them; as a matter-of-fact, he barely spoke to her. From time to time, however, she felt his eyes on her, and she would not look toward him. The couple in the front seat had dressed and were more or less watching the picture between hugs and kisses.
Joyce grew more and more uncomfortable as the night went on. She could not understand how easily these people accepted the idea of illicit sex in a car at a drive-in movie. The thought that anyone might have walked by and seen what was going on in the back seat of the car horrified her-even more than the memory of what had happened.
Her tears were gone now and cold numbness had set in. It was as though she were no longer the same person who had dressed so carefully for this date, been so nervous about it, only a few hours earlier.
She was glad when the movie finally ended, and Steve started the car. They left the parking area and were back on the highway again.
"Where do you wanna stop for a snack?" Steve asked, looking at Anita.
"Mmmmmm, I dunno. I'm not too hungry. Why don't we just get a couple of drinks some place?" Anita was sitting very close to the driver.
"I could use a few belts," Eddie said beside her.
How could they stop anywhere? The thought horrified Joyce, and she shook her head in the darkness. "I'd like to go home," she said. The words were barely sounds in the stillness.
She felt all eyes turn to her. Anita swiveled in the front seat and made a face at her. "What's the matter with you?" Her tone was almost hostile.
Joyce panicked. "Nothing. I have a headache, that's all. The movie ... I sometimes get headaches at movies..."
Anita studied her for several seconds, then glanced at Eddie. He shrugged. She turned back to her boy friend. "Maybe we should drop her off." There was something new in her tone, and Joyce wasn't quite sure what it was. But no one argued with her. They rode in silence along the freeway and finally turned off at the exit that would take them to the rooming house where Joyce lived. A few minutes later the car pulled up in front of the drab house. Steve didn't even shut the motor off. Eddie jerked the handle and opened the door, stepping out onto the sidewalk and waiting for Joyce to follow. She stumbled from the car, paused before she stood up.
"Thanks for everything," she said to the two in the front.
Anita turned and forced a small smile that had no warmth. She shook her head slightly. "It's okay. Hope you feel better tomorrow. Maybe I'll call ya."
On the sidewalk, Joyce looked past Eddie's shoulder as she spoke to him. "Good night." She couldn't thank him-not for what he had done!
She crossed the sidewalk and started up the steps of the old building, already digging in her purse for her keys. She heard the car door slam behind her, heard the engine roar and the tires against the pavement as the car took off. She took a deep breath, pulled the front door open and fumbled at the inner lock with the key.
"Need help?"
She jerked around, startled by the voice and its closeness. Eddie had come up the steps and was right behind her in the tiny vestibule. He reached out and took the keys from her shaking hand. She moved aside numbly so he could open the door.
The inside hall was poorly lit, but she saw his intense look as he followed her in and up the flight of stairs to her door. In front of her apartment, he fanned the keys out in a metal arc from the leather case. "Which one?"
She looked down, selected the right key and pointed to it. He had the door open in a second, and they were inside. She still had not spoken. She couldn't. Her mind whirled, and fear made her shake all over. She should not have let him come up with her. She should have stopped him downstairs, before he ever got this far. She should have-He dropped the keys on the tiny table near the door and turned to her. "Look, baby, don't look so damned scared. I'm not going to hurt you."
"What do you want?" she whispered. He laughed softly. "You're a cute kid. Funny. Yeah, you're a funny broad." He reached up and caught her chin in his hand, forcing her face up so she had to look at him. To her surprise, he leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the mouth. It was almost only a breath, and he retreated instantly. He grinned at her. "I wanted to tell you I'm sorry. About what I did in the car-you know, fucking you like that." He cocked his head and looked at her quizzically. "Hell, baby, I didn't know you were a virgin!"
She was shocked by his statement. How had he been able to tell? Because of her fright, her fumbling panic? She felt herself blush, and she looked away from his gaze.
He reached for her and forced her face back so she had to look at him. "Hey, come on. You should have told me, that's all. Why didn't you say something?"
He smiled and leaned forward and kissed her lips lightly. "You're a funny broad." He looked at her in silence for a long time before he said, "Yeah, you should have told me."
There was a strange note of awe in his tone rather than apology. Joyce tried to figure him out. He had been almost brutal in the car, not caring for her feelings, only taking what he wanted, what he needed. Using her body for his own pleasure. Why would he care about her virginity? Would he have stopped if she had mentioned it? She wondered. Once again the memory of the delicious warmth that had filled her swept over her, and she shivered slightly.
Eddie gripped her arm. She looked down at his claw-like fingers on the blue sweater. She remembered the feel of them between her legs ... inside her ... She swallowed hard. She choked back the sob that filled her throat. She was still frightened of him, afraid of what he might do next. She didn't trust his sudden gentleness.
She finally managed to force words out. "Would it have made a difference? Any difference to you?"
He jerked his head back and looked at her. "Sure, kid. Hell, if I'd known you were a virgin, I'd have done it different. I wouldn'ta laid you slam-bang like that in the goddamn car. Shit, I'd waited till we got back here and done you up right. You only lose your cherry once, and it oughta be better than a quick roll at a drive-in!"
She stared at him. He was absolutely serious, and she was open-mouthed in shock. He would not have stopped, only delayed! He still thought of her as something to use. Even now. She tried to pull away from him, but his hand was tight on her arm. Even now he considered her available! It was as if any woman rightfully belonged to him, was his to claim and have at will. She knew for sure now why he had followed her into the house. God! What would she do? She glanced quickly around the tiny room-apartment, but there was nothing to help her. If she yelled, she might rouse the landlady or one of the other tenants, but how would she explain the man's presence in her room? She thought about Mrs. O'Conner, the landlady, and she knew that to let her see a situation like this would result in eviction at once. The old woman would throw her out; she would not take her part. Where would that get her? More trouble. More than she needed.
"What d'ya say we try to make up for it now?" Eddie pulled her close and tried to capture her mouth under his. She struggled but could not get away from him. He pinned his arms around her and hugged her body to his. She felt her breasts crush against his ribs, flatten to the hard angles of his body. Her breath caught in her throat; her eyes were wide in fright. This time he found her mouth with his hungry lips. His kiss was wet and warm; his tongue probed into her mouth, found hers, raced over it. She tensed, then stopped struggling. She was powerless against him. And now the tremendous warmth of him was bringing her to new feelings of need. He jammed his crotch against hers, and she felt the hard bulge of his stirring sex organ. Memory and warmth engulfed her.
My God! she thought. I want him! Again her body was betraying her, falling into the trap of passion. He squirmed against her, and ripples danced through her belly. She closed her eyes and willed them to cease.
"Come on, baby, let's put you down on the bed and I'll show you what it should have been like for you the first time. I'll make up for the big hurry in the car..." He was dragging her toward the double doors which hid the wall-bed. He let go of her long enough to yank the doors open and jerk the bed down. It thudded against the floor, and he caught her and pushed her back and down onto it.
She stared up at him in mute horror. He was pulling off his jacket, unzipping his pants. "Take your clothes off-" His breath was harsh and thready.
She sat up and unbuttoned her blouse, slid it from her shoulders along with the sweater. Her hands fumbled with the skirt as he drew his trousers down, and she saw the huge swell under the white cloth of his underpants. She stared in fascination and uncertainty. He motioned to her impatiently. "Get those fuckin' things off, honey. We're gonna have some fun!"
She moved in a daze, working the skirt off her hips and legs, managing to pull off the panty hose and underpants that were crusted with the remnants of their earlier coitus. She had her hands behind her back, trying to undo the catch of her bra, when he stripped off his shorts and stood before her naked. Once again, she stopped, breathless and hypnotized.
His sex organs fell forward in nude splendor. Staring, she saw the huge penis jut out of the bed of black pubic hair toward her. It was enormous. How had his clothes contained it? No wonder she had been spellbound by its entrance into her. It must have reached halfway up her belly! It was frightening!
He moved toward her. The penis swayed slightly with his motions, bouncing with each step. Below it, two great balls swung gently. They were dark in color, screened somewhat by the haze of hair surrounding them. The skin of the sacs was wrinkled and ridged,' but there was no look of softness about them. They appeared rock hard.
He was at the edge of the bed now. She gaped at the cock pointing at her face. The end was smooth, like velvet, she thought. The skin was taut and glistening. The head was a large bulge at the end of the ramrod stalk, darker red, smoother skinned. At the very tip, a tiny bead of moisture seeped from the slit that marred the perfection of the silkiness and began to ooze across the gleaming surface.
Joyce had completely forgotten the bra; she had forgotten everything in her awe of the sight before her.
Eddie grinned and reached behind her to undo the garment himself. In that instant, his cock brushed against her arm and she gasped. It was like a hot wire touching her flesh. She stared at the wondrous thing only inches from her face. She smelled the musky male odor of him. She felt dizzy.
The bra came loose, and he pulled forward with the garment in his hand. It was his turn to gasp. "Christ! What boobs!" He stared for a moment at the pale globes that had been released from their bondage. They swayed lightly like huge pendulums of flesh, gleaming dully in the soft lamplight. The ends were capped with rosy red circles of puckered flesh from which the hard-ridged nipples popped forward like craggy mountain peaks.
"Jeez!" he said in awe. His hand went out, and he grabbed one breast and closed over it. His palm was moist and warm, the pressure of his hand almost unbearable. He squeezed, and Joyce whimpered and squirmed. He began to massage the tit with hungry, eager strokes. Suddenly he bent over and, still holding the sphere in his hand, let the nipple poke through his fist, then clamped his mouth over it. He tugged at it, sucking hard, then tightened his teeth on it. She felt the pain of pleasure rocket through her. She heard the strange, almost animal sound, and with a start realized it had come from her lips. She was shaking uncontrollably now. She tried to reason with herself, but her mind would not work. The consuming fire was too much.
Eddie leaned against her, and she fell back onto the bed, his body sprawled across her, his mouth still working on her tit. She moaned softly as he rubbed his naked length along hers. He straddled one of her legs with his, and the pressure of his hard cock against her thigh, dribbling its hot juice on her skin, sent darts of fire through her flesh.
She whimpered, trying to convince herself it was fear that forced the sound and not the passion she refused to recognize.
He pulled free of her tit then, and came up to her face. "Jeez, you're stacked, kid. What a bod!" He came down hard on her mouth, forcing his tongue between her lips and teeth, speaking his violent message to her with it. She wriggled, felt the dizzying blackness engulf her. She couldn't cope with the invasion of sensations that crowded her brain. She was helpless under him ... she could not stop him ... she...
He swung his body abruptly, half sitting up and pulling her so her head was in his lap. "Suck me, baby."
Her face was on his crotch hair, the musky-smelling, male portion of his torso very close and commanding. What did he want her to do? His words stalled in her brain. He grabbed her head and lifted it, turning so she was right over his cock.
"Open your mouth!"
She couldn't move. She stared at the jutting organ in front of her face. It was too frightening to think about. She closed her mind and her eyes.
He pressed his palms to her cheeks, and her mouth was forced open. Just as surely, he pushed her face down, and the hot, hard, smooth surface skimmed past her lips and touched her tongue. She gasped, opening her mouth in shock, and he shoved her harder. The penis slipped inside and jammed against the roof of her mouth, almost gagging her. Without conscious thought, she leaned her weight onto her arms alongside his legs and braced her body so she could move her head freely. His palms were still at the sides of her head, and he began to work her up and down on his prick.
"Oooohhhh, yeeeaaahhh! That's nice, baby, plenty nice!" He shafted himself into the gaping mouth.
Her tongue caught his fire, spurred on by the sweet tang of the trickle of juice that came from the stem. The organ filled her mouth completely, pressed out her cheeks and forced her tongue far back with each jab. She had to space her breathing around his thrusts. Her mind was blank. She could not accept the horror of what he was forcing her to do. She let her body take over, rule her. The newly aroused passion she had discovered in herself was rampant again, and she could not control it. Her hips arched and came down to the bed in hard, humping motions. She was on fire, hot and needy. Somehow, this terrible thing he was forcing her to do was stimulating her sexually. Her body wanted him while her mind recoiled in horror.
Above her, he groaned in delight. "Christ, that's great! Ummm, yeah, yeah. Ohhh, MAN!"
A small spurt of hot, thick juice spewed onto her tongue. To her surprise, he yanked her head from his crotch. "Jeez, hold it! I'm so goddamn hot I'm startin' to come!" He threw her backward so she sprawled again. This time he got over her immediately, straddling her hips and cramming his knees between her thighs.
"Spread 'em, baby!"
She moved her legs to a wide V, watching his distorted face as he grimaced and concentrated on what he was doing. He stabbed his hot, swollen cock into her flesh, searching for the entrance to her body. He reached down with his hand and grabbed his thrusting column of hard flesh, slapped it against her cunt and pried with it. It readily found the wet haven and slid between the hot, slimy walls. He let his full weight fall behind the push, penetrating her cunt in one dagger stab of motion.
"Aaaggghhh!! ! " It was her cry of release and relief. All the heat and tension her body had stored met in the quick, stabbing jerk of her body to his. She catapulted into instant climax, with great Shockwaves of rippling pleasure coursing through her belly with the speed of sound. Her body was on fire, engulfed, consumed...
He began to move with a steady rhythm in her, pulling back and jamming forward with hard, sure strokes of swollen lust. It dazzled her out of her euphoric state. She had climaxed, yet she was still hot and ready for him, accepting his intercourse with extreme pleasure. She was not through. She was not horrified; she was not cold. She brought her legs up, catching his flailing body between them and hugging it closer. She moved so her feet rubbed his ass and slipped partway down his legs. It seemed to excite him, and he grinned and hissed air between his clenched teeth. "Yeah..." It was barely a breath escaping. "Yeah..."
He slammed his body with rapid strokes at her. She felt the hard tool gouge into the pulpy wetness of her vagina, slam into the depths of the dark cavern of passion. She put her arms around his heaving body, dug her fingernails into the hard, muscled flesh of his back. Her eyes were wide and glazed. She was beyond caring, beyond anything but seeking the release from her gripping furious passion.
"Ooohhh!! Yeesss!! Yeeesss!! . "
"Gonna-come-now-baby--? ? ? " He stuttered the question out with his repeated thrusts.
She bobbed her head in a flurry of motion. Yes, she was going to come. She was going to come mightily. Her body flew up to meet his, to demand its satisfaction, find the answer to its burning need. She clawed at him in a spate of blind passion.
"Okaay!" He whispered hoarsely. "Here it is!! ! "
He rammed his cock as far as it would go and with as much force as he could muster. It triggered his climax, and he ejaculated at once, like a fire hose pouring water onto a burning house. The hot, thick semen spurted into her gaping hole of a cunt, was instantly sucked deep and lathered by the next thrusts. She humped with him, pulling and pushing her flesh at his, needing and getting the full impact of hot cock inside her. It felt like boiling oil swamping her. And it brought the full response of her own climax. The delicious, wavering quakes filled her, sending out trails of fire, making her legs and arms tingle, sending darts of fire through her entire body.
She wasn't aware of letting him go or of his ceased motion. She lay on the bed limp and satiated, breathing hard through her mouth, oblivious to everything except the wonder of her own feelings.
3
She lost track of time as she lay panting and savoring the pleasure that filled her. She was dimly aware of his heavy breathing at her side, but she could not rouse herself. The encounter in the car had been nothing compared to this session. She could not deny that she had enjoyed it, that her body had responded fully, that she had reached heights of pleasure she never dreamed possible. Her entire body still tingled with the warm rays of the orgasm, still felt the wondrous warmth of the man who had given it to her. All horror and fear were gone. She was a woman.
She smelled the pungent odor of cigarette smoke and finally opened her eyes and turned her head. He was stretched out alongside her, still naked. She glanced along the length of his taut, lean body, and let her gaze linger a second on the now-dormant hump of his sex organs. In repose, they looked incapable of the delight they had given her. The loose cock curled over the mound of the soft balls. She could see traces of wet juice along the sleek organ and bits of crusty whiteness spattered in his pubic hair.
He lay with one arm under his head, staring at the ceiling as though there were nothing more important in the world than the cigarette he was smoking. He inhaled deeply and blew smoke.
A sigh escaped Joyce's lips, and he turned to look at her. He grinned. "Hey, that was okay, baby. Yeah, really good. I haven't had a piece like that in a hell of a long time."
She was embarrassed but did not blush this time. There was an openness about his smile and his manner that made him appealing. She could almost forget that he was virtually a stranger. A few hours ago she had never even met him...
Yet she took his words as a compliment. She couldn't do otherwise. She returned his smile shyly. He pulled his arm from under his head and put it over her, letting his hand cover one of her breasts casually.
"Yeah, that was great. You like it?" he asked.
She hesitated, then nodded. "Yes."
He patted her tit and grinned again. "I figured you did. Boy, you really turned on when we got going! You're a dandy hunk of cunt." He inhaled and blew the smoke out in a thin stream. "You and I are gonna see a lot of each other from now on." He gazed at the ceiling again.
She felt a small wave of pleasure at his words. He wanted to see her again. It was as though that made everything all right. He was not simply using her as a sex object-he liked her. He wanted to see more of her. It had been a long time, a very long time, since she had shared a closeness with anyone. Not since her parents died.
He turned to her, and she smiled. He said, "Okay? You wanna be my girl?"
She bit her lip and felt the tight pain in her chest. She whispered, "Yes."
His girl. She wasn't alone any more! She belonged to someone. Suddenly she felt very light and free and happy. Impulsively, but shyly, she reached out toward him and touched her fingers to his naked chest. Sparse patches of hair, dark and curly, were a thin haze over his pale skin. His belly was smooth and flat, and as her hand moved across it, she could feel the muscles harden like steel. Her hand stopped at the top edge of the triangle of hair that guarded his genitals. She could not bring herself to go further.
He laughed softly. "Go on, baby, you can handle the equipment."
She blushed and looked at him.
"Go on." He was grinning at her.
"Ain't ya never handled a guy's cock before?" He looked amused and a little surprised. She shook her head.
"Well, go on, try it." He reached for the ash tray on the night table and stubbed out his cigarette. "Go on, baby, you got a lot of learning to do." He rolled closer and pressed his torso to her, catching her hand between their bodies so it was forced against his sex organs.
Slowly and cautiously, she let her fingers find the flaccid penis and balls. She stroked and fondled them hesitantly. The stickiness had dried, and now the skin was smooth and silky under her palm. The balls were textured, rough with the light covering of hair, ridged and loose-skinned. She cupped them, squeezed gently to find the hard cores hidden inside. He made a small noise in his throat. She looked at him.
"Nice, baby, real nice."
She found the penis again and began to push back and forth on it with her fist. The outer skin seemed to move freely, and she was puzzled by the way she could feel it slide in her hand. She pulled her body back and looked down. He rolled onto his back so she could get a better look. She propped herself on one elbow and watched her own play at his organ. Now she saw what was happening, what was causing the loose skin movement. She had not seen the penis in repose before. Unswollen, it had a loose layer of skin that came completely over the head to cover it, pulling together like a drawstring over the hidden tip and puckering almost closed. She looked at it in fascination. She closed her hand around the column of limp flesh and pressed it back toward his body. The skin pulled taut, the drawstring opened and circled the shiny, velvet-skinned head. The small slit winked at her with a drop of moisture. She released the pressure and let the skin close back over the tip.
Eddie grunted in pleasure. She repeated the motion, pulling a little harder and a little farther this time. The tip of the cock tried to spring out of the skin noose, but she wouldn't let it. She jerked back up again. It became a game, pulling and pushing, sliding and slithering the sheath of skin along the organ. It wasn't long until she realized that something else was happening. The penis was no longer loose and limp. It now filled her hand, surged against her palm as it grew and swelled. In amazement, she watched the tip become darker and fuller as the organ filled with blood and the muscles tightened. Below, his balls also seemed to swell even though she hadn't touched them.
She looked up at him, and he smiled at her. "I'm getting another hard-on, baby. You're great, yeah, man, you're great."
She was pleased by his compliment. For some strange reason, she wanted him to like her. She wanted to please him, to do what he wanted her to do.
She concentrated on working the foreskin of the cock back and forth, letting the circle of skin catch just before the entire head popped out of the sheath. He was getting very hard. His penis was erect now, and it filled her fist completely. It was more difficult to keep the tip of the organ inside the skin covering. She giggled and felt him tremble under her. She was leaning slightly against his hip. His hand touched the naked flesh of her back, pushed her closer to him. Her breast swayed and brushed on his belly. He arched his back suddenly. She was in mid-motion, pushing the skin toward the base of the cock. The sudden movement jammed his crotch upward and the swollen cockhead burst from its cocoon of skin. It was glistening red now, dribbling juice from the slit. She gasped. The huge mushroom head bulged from the stalk that filled her hand. She began to pump harder and faster on it. The bead of liquid swelled, broke and spread to film the glossy head.
Hypnotized by it, Joyce bent her head and opened her mouth. She touched her tongue to the tip, licking gently at the wetness. Eddie groaned and arched his back again. She opened her mouth, and the cock speared into it. She moaned and closed her lips around it. They caught along the heavy ridge of flesh that marked the connection of the head to the stem. Her tongue found a thin cord of skin on the underside of the head and explored it. The cock twitched, and Eddie squirmed his body harder to her searching mouth.
"Ooohhh, baby, that's so fuckin' good ... mmm!"
The taste of their combined love juices, the new flavor of his pre-seminal fluid excited her. She worked her tongue furiously over the tip, loving each bit of it. Then she pressed down, forcing the loose skin the full length of the organ, sliding it along her tongue and forcing it all the way to the roof of her mouth. It excited her. She felt the pressure build in her belly, felt the warm stirring of new desire in her sex organs. She could no longer hold her body still. Her hips seemed to move of their own volition, lifting, sinking, taking on a steady rhythm of need.
She sucked harder, scraping her teeth lightly with each thrust. His hand clutched her thigh, fingers mashing her flesh. It moved toward her crotch in a quick spurt of lust, dug into the crevice between her closed legs, pulled at her pubic hairs. She moaned and sucked him with new frenzy. She also moved her body so she could open her legs to his probing fingers. They found her cunt immediately. She gasped onto the heavy, heady cock as he jammed his fingers between her vulva and pinched her clitoris. He pressed his thumb hard on the trigger of passion and scored his other fingers into the wet tunnel of her pussy. She wiggled harder onto them, loving the feel of the stabbing pressure on her erotic flesh. He was deep in her, the ends of his fingers exploring the far reaches of her vagina and finding the small, tight opening to her uterus. He poked one finger into the tight muscle. She gasped and almost choked on the penis which he rammed into her mouth at that same instant.
Once again her mind blanked. Her head was a dizzy whirl of new-found ecstasy and passion. Her whole body quivered and ached for release. She was hot again. He had excited her, or she had excited herself on him. Whichever, she was lost in the heat and heady desire. Her belly tightened and warned her that her passion was ready to burst. She wriggled and slammed her cunt as hard as she could on his spearing fingers. She gasped and moaned but could not do more than make harsh animal sounds around the heavy tool in her mouth. She dragged on it mightily and slammed it all the way into her mouth.
Eddie cried out. "Jeeezzz!! ! "
"Uuuggghhh!! ! " Joyce answered, and the lust in her exploded into a mighty climax. Hot, washing waves of her own secretions flamed and rose in her, flooding his hand and making wet smacking sounds over their muted cries. She came ... and the delightful sensation went on and on and on as his fingers kept up their hard beat.
She came over the crest of the wave and almost back to a conscious state of pleasure when he exploded his new load of come-juice in her mouth. The thick wad shot out with huge force, hitting the back of her throat, gagging her, forcing her to swallow quickly to keep from strangling. She gulped the creamy semen and felt it burn all the way down. It seemed like a very long time before the flow of it stopped. Even then, his cock was still hard in her mouth, still delicious and enticing. She licked and lapped the last traces of the fluid as she slowly withdrew the organ from her mouth. Then she ran her tongue along the entire outer skin and caught the dribbles that had escaped her before.
Eddie sighed deeply, "Christ Almighty! That was good!"
Joyce lay her head on his thigh and breathed deeply. She felt so very good ... She had her hand around the cock and could feel it diminishing in size now. He had shot his load, and the organ was going to sleep again. In a few moments, it fell over limply and came to rest. She smiled and pushed herself up to look at Eddie.
He was smiling at her. "You're great, kid. Yeah. I'm glad I found you. Shit, I haven't had any good fucking like that for a hell of a long time. Years..."
His words surprised her. She sat up and twisted her body so she could see him better. "Why."
"Huh?"
"You said you hadn't had-you know-for years? But you're so ... experienced..."
He laughed without humor. "Not through choice, baby. You'd better believe it! Christ, that's all I thought about for the past two years!" He shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Every guy in the joint thinks about laying a broad every night!"
"The joint?" She didn't understand.
His eyes narrowed, and he seemed to look just past her. "Didn't Anita and Steve tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
He didn't answer, but a frown creased his forehead. She tried to move into his line of vision, but his glance managed to miss her no matter how hard she tried.
"Tell me what?" she asked again.
He looked at the ceiling, the far wall. He seemed to be thinking over his words before he spoke. Finally, after what seemed like a very long silence, he turned back to her. His dark eyes were chips of coal at the end of long tunnels.
"Prison. I just got out."
She stared at him, the words frozen between them. Prison. The word numbed her, left her unable to think clearly. She had never known anyone who'd been in prison. Prison. Crooks ... robbers ... murderers ... rapists...! !
The new words leaped unbidden to her mind. She couldn't control the shudder that shook her or the automatic, instinctive recoil of her body from his. She saw the quick flash of anger cross his eyes, and she tried to smile. It didn't work.
"Yeah," he said in a hard voice. "I just got out of prison, the state penitentiary. Did two years." He left it there, staring back at her as though to cram the idea into her head.
She felt frightened suddenly and was not sure why. He was the same man he had been a few minutes ago, and she hadn't been frightened of him then. Just because he was an ex-convict, did it change things?
She licked her dry lips and stammered, "W-what d-did you d-do?"
He laughed harshly. "Armed robbery. Held up a bar." His expression was flat and cold. "Goddamn bartender called the fuzz as soon as I left." He flicked his glance away and back at her. "I shoulda blasted him, fuckin' bastard!"
Joyce stared at him in shock. He couldn't mean what he said! She shook her head and frowned.
He laughed and patted her leg. "Hey, what'sa matta?"
"I-You-" She shook her head again.
He curled his mouth in a scornful smile. "Don't get the wrong idea, baby. I never cooled anyone in my life. I'm not some lousy killer."
She dampened her lips with her tongue. "You said-"
He shrugged. "Aw, I was just making noise. I wouldn'ta plugged him. Maybe cracked him on the head, that would have given me enough time He let it go as she shook her head again. "I'm only foolin', doll." His glance passed her again, and his face became a mask.
She frowned, searching his face for a clue to help her understand if he was really putting her on or if now he was masking the truth. He was ... so different. She'd never known anyone quite like him. She had a vague feeling of uneasiness, yet she could not forget the fulfilling pleasure he had given her. She might rationalize his past, but she could not deny that now she wanted to keep him near, be his girl as he had suggested. She had not belonged to anyone for a very long time. She wanted to belong, needed to.
He propped himself up on his elbow. "Lissen, kid. You got the last word. You want me to vanish-take off? Or you want me to stick around? I'm levelin' with you, I liked the fuck session plenty. I want some more of the same-plenty more. But if you want me to get lost, say so now. I'm not gonna force you." He stared at her, his dark eyes hard and glittering.
She swallowed; her mouth felt like cotton. She licked her lips, but her tongue was sandy. Without meaning to, she moved her leg, and her thigh touched his flesh. A Shockwave ripped through her. She couldn't let him go. Not now, not now that he had shown her how to be a woman. She shook her head slowly.
"I don't want you to go," she said softly.
4
Even though Joyce hated to see him go, Eddie left about an hour later, and she was relieved in a way. She worried that her landlady would see or hear him and there might be trouble. A small needle of guilt picked at the back of her conscience when she realized what others would think. She wasn't quite over her own guilt at what she had allowed to happen, but she knew she could not turn back now. She had enjoyed Eddie too much, needed him too much, to wish it had not happened.
She lay curled under the blanket hugging her knees to her chest for a long time. The tiny apartment was dark except for the filtered light from the streetlamp outside. It was restful to lie in the darkness and think ... and feel the warmth that still filled her body.
She thought about her life before she came to the city. She had been very sheltered, she saw that now. It would have horrified her to think of sex with any of the boys she knew in school. Yet, were the other town girls as innocent as she? Or had she thought and believed only what she wanted to think and believe? Maybe she had been pretty naive.
She thought about Eddie's prison record. It worried her that he spoke so casually of his crimes and the time he'd served. He was young to have that kind of a past. Twenty-four. He looked even younger, she thought. He'd begun his ventures into robberies when he was in junior high school, he'd told her. She bit her lip. She'd never known anyone like him before, and he frightened her a little. It was as if she could not quite read his expression, was never absolutely sure if his words were true. There was a guarded look in his eyes, a cool, impersonal touch in his voice. But ... his body had thrilled her. He had taught her wonderful feelings of love, and she did not want to release them or him ever. He wanted her, and she wanted him.
She slept finally, and it was almost noon when she woke. The sun was high and the apartment bright and warm. She stretched her body, tingled with sensuous delight as she remembered the night before. She smiled and got up to shower and dress.
By midafternoon, she was restless and unable to sit at any of the tasks she normally occupied herself with. She skimmed the pages of a book, tossed it aside. She picked up some sewing she'd been meaning to do but found that that didn't hold her attention either. When she stabbed her finger for the fourth time, she sighed and dropped the blouse and button she was trying to sew back on into the basket. She paced the floor, feeling like a caged cat. She opened the window and breathed in the cool spring air. It was a nice day, and she longed to go out and walk briskly in the fresh air, but Eddie might call, Eddie might stop by to see her ... She could not take the chance of missing him.
By eleven that night, she was edgy and blue. He had not called or come by. She began to worry, the guilt and indecision plaguing her until she was sure that he had forgotten her, that she had been a fool to believe his words, his promises. He didn't want her to be his girl; she had merely been a convenient sex partner, one who had given herself willingly to his demands. She blushed now with shame and grew angry with herself. She had been a fool, she saw that now.
She slept very badly that night and was irritable and tired when she left the next morning for work. Anita was already at the bus stop when she hurried along the street.
"Hi, thought you were going to miss the eight-ten. You oversleep?" Anita was bright and talkative.
Joyce shook her head and peered down the street to sight the bus as it came over the low hill of the next block.
"What'sa matter? You feel lousy or something?" Anita probed and looked at the other with narrowed eyes. , "No, just a little tired, that's all." Joyce didn't want to talk, especially to answer questions about what had happened since the last time she had seen Anita. To her surprise, Anita didn't inquire. She simply shrugged and let the conversation drop. The bus pulled to the curb, and the girls got on and managed to find seats-not together, to Joyce's relief. She sat staring out the window as the bus moved along the city streets in the maze of morning traffic. She felt numb and barely able to push away morbid thoughts. She chewed at her lower lip and tried to still the gnawing pain that ate at her insides. She was still angry with herself to think she had been such an easy pushover for Eddie's ideas and that she had given in to his demands so readily. She'd been nothing more than a-a tramp, she thought bitterly. Now she had to live with her conscience.
Joyce moved through the day at work like a robot. She caught herself several times staring blankly out the window, or sitting with papers in hand and thoughts wandering. She avoided Anita at lunch time and ate alone in a small cafe that was crowded and noisy enough to fill her mind.
By the time she boarded the bus for the ride home, she had come to terms with herself, admitted she had been a fool and that now she had to start over again.
Slowly she walked the half-block to her house from the corner, staring glumly at the grimy street that had not yet taken on the clean, fresh look of spring. Maybe she'd move, find another apartment in a little better neighborhood. She was due for a raise at the office; she'd be able to afford something a little better.
She climbed the outside steps to the house and opened the door to the vestibule. She looked up in quick shock when she realized someone was there, standing in the dim hallway, leaning against the inner door.
"Hi, baby."
"Eddie!" All her resolve vanished, and she almost flung herself at him. His arms came up to grab her and finally to hold her close so he could kiss her. She closed her eyes and filled herself with the taste of his mouth, opening hers at once when his tongue flicked over her lips. She wanted to cling to him, have him hold her forever, keep her....
He straightened up and pushed her away gently. "Hey, baby, you missed me, huh?" There was laughter in his tone, and he was grinning at her.
"Oh, Eddie..."
"Come on," he said. "Open the door and let's get inside your apartment. I've been standing here for half an hour. I wanna sit down."
She nodded and opened her purse to find the key. He shifted impatiently and stepped back to let her unlock the door.
In her apartment, he flopped into the easy chair and stretched his long legs in front of him. She dropped her purse to the table, slipped off her jacket and hung it away.
She stood then, looking at him, smiling. It was so good to have him back. All her worries had been silly. After all, he had not promised he would see her yesterday. That had been her own wish, her desire. Even now she felt the warm flow of secretions start in her belly. She was getting excited just seeing him. She had missed him so much...
He grinned at her, and she crossed to him and knelt in front of the chair between his outspread legs. "Oh, Eddie, why didn't you call yesterday? I-"
He sat up in surprise, his smile gone. He looked at her for a minute, then shrugged and smiled again. "I was busy, kid. I had some things I hadda take care of." He stared at her until she looked away in confusion.
She felt foolish now at having asked the question. She was acting like a silly schoolgirl. She knew he hadn't liked the possessiveness implied in her question. She looked up at him. "I'm glad you're here now," she said honestly.
His dark eyes mirrored her image but gave no hint of his thoughts. His smile looked carved and carefully perfect. "Yeah, sure, baby." He looked around the apartment quickly. "You gonna fix some food? I could use something, I'm starved."
"Oh." She scrambled to her feet. "Sure. Gee, I wasn't expecting-I mean, I don't have much. Will hamburger be okay?"
"Sure, great." He leaned forward and ran his hand along her leg, touching the calf first, then moving slowly upward under her skirt and mashing gently at the fleshy thigh encased in nylon.
Joyce held her breath. The warmth in her belly became heat and her knees felt rubbery. Her flesh seemed to tingle wherever his fingers contacted it. She wanted to throw herself into his arms, his lap, have him hold her close, make love to her again. She felt her breath escape in a long sigh.
He pulled his hand away abruptly. "Yeah, well maybe you'd better get them started." He flopped back in the chair and looked toward the small kitchenette in the corner of the room.
Dazed, Joyce went and began preparing the food. She was confused, unable to cope with the strange feelings that filled her and left her slightly afraid. But everything is all right now, she told herself. Eddie's back. I was wrong to doubt him. He does want me. He does.
Eddie made small talk as she worked and while they ate. He made no reference to the time they'd spent together on Saturday or to his request for her to be his girl. Joyce couldn't help but notice, but would not let herself say anything. He was here, and for now that was enough.
She cleared the dishes, and Eddie paced the tiny room behind her as she stacked them in the small sink. "Baby?"
She turned. "Yes, Eddie?" He was not looking at her. "There's a guy I gotta see tonight-"
"Oh, Eddie!" It was out before she could stop it.
He frowned, and she knew that he didn't like her to cling. He wanted her, but he wanted her on his terms, his schedule. She bit her hp.
"It won't take long." He took a cigarette from the pack in his pocket without removing it. He held it between his lips and snapped a small steel lighter under it. He studied the flame as he held it to the cigarette and dragged smoke. He clicked off the lighter and palmed it a moment before dropping it back in his pants pocket. "At least I don't think it will," he said slowly. He looked at her through the haze of smoke that clouded around his head.
"Don't you know?" she asked.
He shrugged. "Not exactly. There may be trouble-"
"Eddie!" She dried her hands on her apron as she hurried to him. "You're not-you won't-I mean, don't-"
"Hey, take it easy, kid. No, I'm not into anything, not what you're thinking. I'm not pulling any jobs! Jeez, I've got a parole officer breathing down my neck now. I ain't gonna give 'em any reason to pull me in. Naw, I told you, I plan to stay out this time. I've had it with a cell, right up to here." He drew his finger across his throat.
"Then-"
He inhaled smoke and let it out in a thin stream. "Dough. Bread. Cash-type money, that's my trouble."
She shook her head. "I don't understand."
"I owe this guy some dough, and he wants it tonight." He shrugged. "I haven't got it. So..." He held his palm out in a questioning gesture. "Maybe he won't like it. Maybe there'll be trouble."
"Oh, Eddie, what kind of trouble? You don't mean he'll-" She broke off, not sure herself what she was thinking. There was something in Eddie's tone that made her realize he was in some kind of danger.
Eddie didn't look directly at her. "No telling what he'll do."
Joyce bit her lip and fought back the tears that wanted to spill over her lids. "Maybe I canHow much do you owe him?"
He turned and looked at her carefully. "Five hundred bucks."
Her heart sank. "Five hundred! Oh, Eddie, I don't have anything like that."
His eyes narrowed. "How much can you lay your hands on, baby?"
She shook her head. "Seventy or eighty dollars, maybe." That would clean out her checking account completely, too. She hadn't been able to save anything so far. Living in the city was expensive.
A frown formed between his eyebrows and darkened his face. He muttered something under his breath that sounded like a curse, but he chopped the words off quickly when she looked at him. "Sorry, honey," he said ruefully. "There's no way Big Mike will settle for eighty bucks."
"Can't you borrow money somewhere?"
He arched his brows and looked at her quizzically. "Like where? You got any bright ideas?"
She moistened her lips. "A bank? A loan company?"
He laughed, and the sound was harsh and heavy in the small room. "An ex-con? You gotta be kidding, doll! You ever heard of credit references? Banks and loan companies only lend dough to people who can pay it back for sure. They wouldn't give me a dime for a phone call if I left my soul for collateral."
"Oh Eddie, what are you going to do?" She was almost in tears.
He shrugged. "I gotta show at Big Mike's. I don't show, he'll send someone out looking for me and I'll have more trouble than I can handle. And more trouble I don't need." He dragged on his cigarette, then crushed the butt into the dish she'd laid out for an ash tray. "So, I gotta make a showing at least. Maybe Mike's horse came in at the track today and he'll be in a good mood and give me another day. Maybe I'll get smeared by a bus on the way down there." He laughed shortly.
"Don't say that!" She flung her arms around him and held him close. His body was stiff and unyielding. Her tears spilled over and dropped onto his shoulder. For a long time only the sound of her sobs filled the void. Finally she gulped and swallowed hard. She raised her head and looked at him. "Eddie?"
"Yeah, doll?"
"Make-please, make love to me." She hadn't planned to say the words, but they came from her depths of need. She was desperate for him and afraid to let him go.
He stood very still for a few minutes, not looking at her but not pulling away from her. Then he said, "Later ... if I can get back."
"Oh, please-"
He shook his head. "Big Mike said before nine o'clock." He glanced at the clock on the table. "I gotta go."
She took a deep breath. "I'm going with you.'
He looked at her now. His dark eyes seemed to bore holes through her, penetrate her brain. Yet she could read nothing in the guarded expression.
"Why?" he asked.
She chewed at her lip. "I can't let you ... Maybe I can help convince him-Mike-that you'll pay the money as soon as you can."
"I dunno..."
"I'll get a loan," she said suddenly. "I can ask at the Credit Union tomorrow at work, or go to a bank. I'll tell Mike that."
Eddie stared at her, and the dark shadow in his expression shifted slightly. "Hmm, maybe ... Okay, come on, let's give it a try." He bent forward and kissed her lips without passion. Then he pulled his head back and smiled at her. "You're okay, honey. Yeah, you're a great little broad. Maybe my luck is changing finally. You and me-we're gonna get along swell."
He let go of her and pulled on the jacket he'd tossed to the back of the chair. She hurried and got her apron off and readied her face at the mirror. Ten minutes later, she pulled the door shut behind them as they left the apartment. She was already thinking about coming back to the apartment with Eddie. To bed.
5
Eddie took her to a section of the city where she'd never been before. It was seedy, and the streets seemed even grimier and more littered than those in her neighborhood. The buildings here were old, run-down, some even boarded over and empty. She shivered and pulled her jacket around her tighter.
Eddie seemed to know his way around well. He turned onto a wide street where trees had been planted in small squares of dirt along the curb at intervals. The trees hadn't fared any better than the buildings. They were bare-limbed, without even promising buds of spring. The bark was shredded and gouged with wounds that bled the life from them long ago. Several of them were shrouded in toilet tissue that had been draped on the branches. From one dangled a tattered pair of panties.
There were stores along the block, or at least the fronts of what had once been places of business. Most windows were cracked or completely broken away behind the metal grilles that covered them. Near the end of the block, Eddie turned toward a door between two large, plate-glass windows that had somehow managed to stay in place despite the huge cracks that streaked them from top to bottom. The windows had been painted a sickly green, so they couldn't see inside, but the tiny chips in the paint showed that there was a light burning beyond the glass.
Eddie stopped at the door and raised his knuckles to rap sharply. Joyce shivered and stood very close to him. She was frightened, almost sorry she had insisted on coming along, but she would not back out on her promise. After several seconds, the door opened a few inches. The shape of a man's head appeared against the background of light.
"Eddie Adamo," Eddie said softly.
The man in the doorway grunted, the door closed, a chain clanked, the door opened to admit them. Joyce followed Eddie into the dismal room.
Naked light bulbs threw garish shadows on the walls. The old wood floor was littered with cigarette butts, bits of paper, dust and grime. At one side of the room, a large table stood against the wall. Behind it, a man sat, chair tilted, feet up. He looked at them coldly as they crossed to the table.
Eddie stopped and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. The man stared and said nothing. Joyce felt the eyes of the other man, the one who had let them in, hard on her back. She was very uncomfortable. She'd never known people like these, and she felt uneasy and out of place. The man behind the desk was hard-looking and ugly, a small ferret face with tiny eyes which were almost lost in the deep sockets. His hair was black and thinning, touched with gray across the temples. His face was square and firm, his mouth a thin line from which jutted an unlit cigar. He was waiting for Eddie to speak.
Joyce tightened her hold on Eddie's arm, and she felt him flinch. "Mike-"
The big man in the chair didn't answer. His eyes seemed to sink deeper into the sockets, like buckets descending dark wells. One hand moved up from his lap and came to rest, palm up, on the table. The motion spoke more than words. He was asking for his money.
"I haven't got it, Mike-b-but I-I can get it-t-t-tomorrow, I s-swear!" Eddie was shaking visibly now, and Joyce clutched his arm tightly.
The man's eyes slid across both of them and flicked at the man beyond. Joyce heard the soft sound of the man's shoes on the floor, saw his arm shoot forward and grab Eddie's collar.
Eddie whimpered as the man jerked him backward, and he almost fell. "I swear," he whined, looking at Mike. Then he looked at Joyce. "Tell him, baby-tell him-"
Mike's cold eyes found Joyce's face and bored twin holes through her.
She licked her lips nervously. "Maybe I can ... get a ... loan, where I work," she said finally.
His expression didn't alter. His gaze went back to Eddie. "Who's the chick?" he asked tonelessly. "M-my g-girl-"
The cigar danced from one side of his mouth to the other. He looked at Joyce again. "Maybe?" he asked with a high note of inflection.
"Yes, that is, I think so, I'm pretty sure..." She was so scared she could hardly talk. She was beginning to wonder how smart she'd been in getting into this. She knew nothing about people like this, nothing about this kind of thing at all.
She realized suddenly that she knew nothing, virtually nothing about Eddie either. She had blundered into a bad situation because she wanted him, wanted him sexually. She'd been foolhardy.
Mike was silent. Eddie's harsh, hard breathing stirred the quiet. He was scared, too, Joyce knew.
Then Mike shook his head slowly. "No dice, kid."
"Mike-for God's sake-"
"You gotta do better than that, Eddie boy. Old Mike's seen 'em all and heard every dumb story you stupids come up with. Now I want my dough."
"Mike-" Eddie pulled forward, but the other man held him tight. Eddie looked at him over his shoulder, then back at Mike. There was no more time to kid himself. Mike meant what he said.
Joyce felt her heart pound and the blood race through her at dizzying speed. She wanted to get out of there, get away and forget the whole thing. But she was part of it. She had pushed into Eddie's sordid business, and now she could not extricate herself. She wondered if it would do any good to plead Eddie's cause again, promise she would get the money. Somehow, any way at all, she would manage to get the money Eddie needed!
"I'll get it, I promise," she whispered across the gulf that separated her from the man behind the desk. "I'll get it."
It was as if he hadn't heard her. He jerked his head, and the man behind her began to pull Eddie across the room. Eddie made small, frightened sounds, mewing...
Joyce sobbed. "Don't! Oh please don't."
Eddie cried out, "Mike-lissen-hey-I got a deal-lissen, for crissake!"
Mike looked up and frowned. He jerked his head in a barely perceptible motion, and the other man halted, gripping Eddie's collar and seeming to hold him up.
Eddie shrugged his shoulders as if to free himself of the man's hold. He cleared his throat loudly. "Lemme talk to you alone, huh?"
Mike studied his face thoughtfully. He wasn't making any quick decisions. After a long silence, he nodded again. The heavy-set man shoved Eddie forward.
Eddie stumbled and caught the edge of the table. He looked at Mike, then back at Joyce. Mike understood the gesture and slowly untilted the chair and brought his feet to the floor. He stood up slowly and walked toward a door several feet beyond the table. He opened it and jerked his head for Eddie to come.
Eddie scurried around the table and almost ran to the door. As Mike ushered him through to the dark room beyond, he said, "This had better be good, kid." His tone was very cold.
The door closed, and the outer room was suddenly very quiet. Joyce felt the stocky man's eyes on her, but she could not turn and look at him. She was frightened, very frightened all of a sudden. What was Eddie up to? What kind of a deal was he trying to make? He hadn't mentioned any further ideas to her. Matter of fact, he had not had any. He had told her she was his last hope.
Joyce chewed her lip and watched the closed door. Every once in a while she thought she heard a low murmur of voices, but she was never quite sure. It seemed like a very long time before the door opened again and Eddie and Mike emerged.
Her eyes went to Eddie's face. He was still very pale, but his expression was different now--less frightened but more guarded. Eddie didn't look at her.
But Mike did-very carefully. He stood staring at her, almost as if he were appraising her. She felt indecent all at once, as if the man could see right through her clothes and was viewing her naked. She looked away, back at Eddie, but he still was turned away from her.
Mike said, "Okay. You're sure about-"
"Yeah, sure, I told you-no sweat."
Mike nodded. "Harry..." He swiveled his head to look at the heavy-set man behind Joyce. "Take her upstairs."
Joyce heard the words and shook her head. She looked quickly at Eddie, then at Mike. Harry had already stepped forward and taken her arm in his beefy grip.
"No!" The word was a sharp, hoarse whisper of fear. "Eddie!" It was a plea. "What are you going to do-"
Mike jerked his head toward the door. Harry pulled her to stumble along with him. "Eddie!"
"It's okay, baby, just go along ... " Eddie couldn't finish, and he turned and walked to the table.
"What about you?" Joyce gasped.
He flicked a brief glance toward her but then concentrated on the table top again. "I'll be okay, baby."
"But I-"
"Don't worry, baby. I'll be okay. You, too. Just do what the man says for now and ... Well, it won't be long."
Mike laughed, throwing his head back and letting the sound burst forth from his throat. "She'd better be more than all right after the build-up you gave her, Eddie boy. Yeah, she'd better be prime stuff or I'll come looking for my dough-with interest compounded in blood!" His laughter died, and he sneered at Eddie who could not meet his eyes. Then Mike motioned with the cigar, and Harry began dragging Joyce toward the door. He pulled it open, and she almost stumbled across the first step of the flight leading up to a very dark second floor. Harry jerked her upright and forced her to climb.
She sobbed and wasn't sure if she cried aloud or not, "Eddie! Oh, Eddie!"
6
The stairs were dark, and Joyce stumbled forward, almost sprawling face down. Only Harry's tight grip on her arm kept her on her feet. Tears blinded her eyes and ran down her cheeks, and her sobs seemed to echo loudly in the narrow, stale-aired place. Where was he taking her? What were they going to do??
They reached the top of the flight and were in a dim hall. A light spilled weakly from an open doorway at the end of the corridor. The air was stale and tinged with dead tobacco.
Harry pulled her into the room with the light. It was a large room, with bare walls and little decoration. It seemed to extend over the entire store below, giving an area of more than twice the room downstairs. The walls were plastered but chipped and in need of paint. They were a drab beige color. In places, posters and pictures had been put up with Scotch tape, mostly pictures of women with little or nothing on. A few of them were outrightly obscene.
Very slowly Joyce became aware of the rest of the room. It contained six beds. Cots, narrow and covered with sheets and ugly khaki blankets. Small wooden tables and boxes served as stands beside the beds. A few pieces of clothing hanging on nails along the wall gave evidence of the room being used but did not lend it a lived-in air.
Joyce looked slowly around, trying to figure out what the place was. She rubbed away her tears with the back of her fist and tried to blink her vision clear. A dormitory of some sort? But-
She looked at Harry. A cobra smile was carved in his full face, and his black eyes were glinting in the dim light. He squeezed her arm, then let go abruptly. With a twitching grin, he jerked his head toward the beds.
"You stay here." He turned to go.
"Wait!" Panic filled her and she whirled to him. "Don't ... please..."
His grin solidified into stone. "Mike says you stay here. What Big Mike says it is, baby."
She shook her head, trying to deny facts.
He laughed coldly. "Don't do anything stupid, kid. Just sit tight and wait. It won't be long." He headed for the door.
"Oh-" It was a soft whimper of fright.
He stopped and turned to look at her again. He shook his head. "We don't want no trouble..."
She heard his steps go down the stairs, heard a door open, then close. The room was very still.
She stood where he had left her, unable to comprehend, not wanting to think what might lay in store for her. A small memory nagged at the back of her brain. What was trying to force through the velvet cloud of numbness? What-
She remembered then. Eddie had told Mike he had a deal, that he wanted to make a deal with him. That was it. What kind of a deal? What kind of a deal would Eddie make that involved her being brought here? She shook her head and bit her lip hard to clear her mind. Eddie owed Mike money-five hundred dollars. That was why she had come here with him-to try to talk him into waiting for his money. But ... a deal? Eddie's only hope had been for Mike to let Joyce try to borrow the money tomorrow. Were they going to hold her here until she could do that? Keep her here until tomorrow? She shuddered at the thought. They couldn't-
She looked around the room again. Then she walked slowly to the cots and looked more closely. A chipped saucer served as an ash tray, and although there were not butts in it, it was thick with ashes and burned tar. It was the only thing on the crate that served as a table for this bed. The bed itself was neatly made except for the wrinkled pillowcase that showed the imprint of a head that had rested on it. She looked at the nail over the box. A man's sports shirt hung on it. The shirt was new, still crisp with the starched filler of manufacture, even thought it showed evidence of having been worn. She reached out and lifted it down to look at it. There were a few tiny crumbs of tobacco in the bottom of the pocket, but otherwise it was clean. The label told her nothing. Guiltily, she hung the garment back on the nail and backed out of the space between the cots.
She wiped at her eyes again, feeling the tight, drawing sensation the drying tears had left. With a start, she realized she did not have her purse. Where was it? Had she dropped it downstairs or in the hall? She chewed at her lip and tried to recall, but she had been too frightened to be aware of anything as ordinary as that.
Very slowly she walked to the door, balancing on the balls of her feet to minimize any sound on the bare wooden floor. She cocked her head and listened. No sound rose to her from downstairs. Were the others still there? EddieA new rush of tears stung her eyes. Eddie! Eddie! Please come and get me out of here! she pleaded silently.
She thought vaguely of sneaking down, trying to find a way out, but she was too frightened. If they were still there, she might be in more trouble than she already was. And Harry had warned her not to do anything dumb, not to cause trouble. If she only knew what it was all about!
She returned to the cots and sat carefully on the edge of the closest one. Even the sounds of the street were cut off here, and it was silent and eerie. She thought about the outside of the old building, and she shuddered again. This was not a nice part of town, and it was one that she was completely unfamiliar with. Even if she could get out of the building, she would not know where to go. And without her purse, she did not have fare for the bus or a cab. She had to wait for Eddie to return.
If he returned...
She pushed aside the nagging doubt, telling herself that Eddie did love her. Hadn't he proved it in bed? She had given herself to him completely, and she trusted him, she-
A sound from the hall startled her, and she stood up quickly. Someone was coming up the stairs. She held her breath, praying silently that it would be Eddie.
The heavy steps came closer. Then the man was in the doorway. It was not Eddie. Joyce's breath broke in a sob. She caught it again quickly and looked at the man staring at her. It was not Harry, or Mike either.
This man was tall and thin, almost emaciated-looking. His bony face, with high cheekbones, had a cadaverous look that was emphasized by his sunken eyes with dark circles under them. He looked scared, or maybe very wary. His frightened look surprised her, and she almost started forward but caught herself in time.
He stood just inside the room as though he were waiting for something. His glance slid over Joyce almost uneasily. He seemed to be looking through her or just past her. The look stirred a dim memory, but Joyce could not place it readily.
The man took a step into the room. Joyce backed away instinctively. He stopped, alarmed. Joyce covered her mouth with her hand, damming up the scream that wanted to bubble out. He shook his head in slow motion as if reassuring her.
Quietly, so she barely heard, he said, "Big Mike told me you were here." He smiled then, a hesitant smile that warmed his face and made him look younger.
Joyce could barely whisper. "Who are you?"
"Phil Dalton. They call me Mousey."
She shook her head. "They?"
He smiled again. "Everyone in the joint-"
Suddenly she recognized the off-center gaze, the cautious appraisal. It was the same way Eddie had looked at her that first night they'd met! The joint. This man had been in prison, too. Like Eddie, he was an ex-convict!
"What do you want?" she finally managed to ask.
It was his turn to look surprised. His glance came up to her face, then moved away quickly. His hands twitched in a nervous gesture and his head bobbed. "He said-" He turned very suddenly and fled back along the corridor and down the stairs.
Joyce was stunned and ran to the door. What was the matter with him? Where was he going?
She went out into the hall and peered down the stairway. The man had left the door open at the bottom, and the light from the store splashed onto the gritty landing below. She heard the soft hum of voices, then one became loud and the words were clear.
"...matter with you? Christ, you said you wanted a hunk of ass." It was Big Mike's rough voice.
The answer from the blonde man was a slur of sound.
Big Mike said, "Shit, you want I should come up and introduce you?" Laughter.
Joyce shrank back from the railing. She bumped into the door frame and moved around it in a daze. The words she'd heard sent shivers through her, as though her body understood their meaning more than her mind was willing to accept.
The footsteps now on the stairs were quick and heavy. Big Mike came into the room first, followed by the thin blonde man. Big Mike looked uglier than ever. He had chewed the cigar to a pulpy stub, and he grinned around it.
"What was yer name again, girlie?" he asked.
"Joyce." She was too frightened not to answer.
He grunted. "Joyce this here is Mousey. He's yer first customer tonight. Be nice to him."
She shook her head. "I ... I ... don't ... understand..."
Mike's eyebrows went up like the end of a dump truck. He laughed harshly. "You gotta be kidding," he said, and he laughed again. "Eddie didn't tell me you were a great kidder. Look, doll, just get those damned clothes off and spread your cunt open for
Mousey here. He ain't had no fuckin'-woman style-for four years."
"No..." It couldn't be true. She shook her head violently. "No!" The way the two men stared at her she wondered if she had indeed spoken aloud. Big Mike's expression didn't change. His hard stare stabbed at her, slid down over her shivering body meaningfully.
"Don't make me get rough, kid," he said menacingly.
Beside him, the blonde man said, "Maybe-"
"Shut up!" Mike ordered. "I made a deal for her, and she ain't gonna welch out of it." He took a step toward Joyce. "You gonna undress or you want I should do it for you?" His narrowed eyes were dangerously bright. The cigar hung forgotten between his lips. Joyce backed away from him and stumbled over the cot that caught her behind the knees. She plunged backward, falling onto the bed.
He was on her before she could struggle up. Mike's weight pinned her down, his chest hard against her breasts, his hip trapping her waist and lower torso. Even though he did not move, there was an obscene suggestiveness in his holding her. Joyce was thoroughly frightened now. The man's warm, stale breath flowed over her face, and she tried to turn away but could not move. She was paralyzed with fear.
"You're gonna do what you're told, baby," he said softly. "Your boy friend Eddie made a deal. You're my collateral for the bread he owes me-five hundred loaves. Either you pay off in trade or I kill him-maybe you, too. Got it?"
Without volition, her head shook her denial. Her mind could not fathom the meaning of his words, but she knew that he was talking about sex-using her sexually. Her body cringed, her flesh quivered with fear. Terror filled her lungs and throat, and she could scarcely breathe. Her head whipped from side to side as if she might somehow erase his words and their threat from her being.
His eyes hardened. The cigar jumped and wormed across his tight-lipped jaw. Somewhere beyond them Mousey's made a small sound of protest, but Mike paid no attention. He raised his weight to one elbow and released her wrist from his other hand. With the freed hand, he began to' unfasten her blouse. The touch of his hairy hand on her neck made her whimper softly. The hand went down the row of buttons, yanking and jerking any that did not give readily. Then he flung the cloth aside, opening the front of the garment and exposing her thin slip and the white cotton bra under it. He grunted and jammed his fingers under the center V of the clothes where they met between her breasts. With a violent tug, he ripped the slip and bra in half. The elastic and nylon band of the slip caught under her back and slashed at Joyce's flesh, but they gave under the vicious pull and twist.
He pulled the handful of cloth free of her body and flung it aside. Joyce clenched her teeth and tried to hold back the terror that poured upward into her brain from her body. Mike's heavy-panting, hot breath licked at her naked flesh, searing the exposed breasts and nipples now. The ugly man swung his head so he could gaze at the loveliness he had uncovered. His breath rasped harshly in his mouth.
"Yeah, that's more like it." He reached up and took the dead cigar from his mouth and threw it to the floor without looking to see where it went. He raised his head without taking his eyes off the gleaming, marble-like mounds of her tits. "Mousey, take a gander at these boobs. Ha, old Eddie was right about her being stacked."
Joyce looked frantically at Mousey. He moved forward in slow, jerking motions. She remembered his protest. Would he help her? Oh, God! Please let him help her!! Then she saw Mousey's face. He was staring at her breasts, licking his lips and almost drooling in his obvious heat. He had other things on his mind now...
Big Mike fumbled in his pocket, and metal clanked dully. He swung the handcuffs over her body and snapped one ring around her wrist. With a grin he jerked the chain so her hand was pulled up toward the top of the cot. He had to lean onto her naked breasts while he clamped the other ring of the cuffs around the metal bedpost. Then he pulled back slowly, lingering as he drew himself over her tits, pressing himself hard onto them, and letting his hand move up and cup one dome hard. He squeezed, then ducked his head to pop the soft nipple into his mouth. He sighed noisily and sucked the dormant tip to taut awareness. Joyce's mouth was still open in shock, and her whole body trembled in fear. The man's wet, slimy tongue lapped at her tit. The fear swamped her brain, blotted out everything. Her head spun in a mad whirl of search for escape. She felt Big Mike's teeth clamp on the turgid nipple. A dart of delicious pain stabbed through her. Her head rang, blocking out the strange, muted sound of Mousey's voice.
"Hey, yeah ... good..."
And Big Mike's answer as he finally let go of her naked flesh to speak. "Christ, I've got a hard-on. I'm gonna have a piece of my collateral, too."
Joyce was only dimly aware of her skirt and stockings being yanked off as she gave in to the blessed oblivion that blotted out consciousness.
7
The darkness was complete only for moments, then it began to pale and sounds and feelings penetrated it. Joyce lay on the cot in a daze, aware of what was happening but unable to protest or fight. She felt the heavy hands on her naked flesh, first in the act of undressing her, then boldly caressing her exposed parts. A huge wave of nausea filled her at first, but it began to ebb as the contacts stirred her pleasantly. With her eyes closed in the semiconscious state, it was easy to fool herself, to pretend she was in her own bed, being loved by Eddie.
Eddie ... She cried his name in silence. She would not think about his leaving her here ... Eddie...
The anonymous hands rubbed hard on her belly. One stabbed between her legs, pulling her crotch hairs harshly as it forced her thighs apart. It dug into the pulpy flesh under the thatch, searching and finding the thick folds of her vulva. She squirmed as a spasm rocketed through her.
A voice, distant and thick, said, "Christ, look at that pussy!" Fingers twitched on her flesh, sending shivers through her. "Aaaahhh!" The fingers clamped on her clitoris and tweaked it until it hardened and became a focal point for the delight that was surging through her torso. She felt her hips move, and she was unable to hold them still.
She heard someone breathing very hard. Farther away, another voice said, "What about me? What about me?"
She tried to place the voice but couldn't. She only dimly recalled that she was somewhere where Eddie had left her. She tried to crawl back into the black fog of her mind. Eddie...
"Yeah, sure, kid. There's plenty for both of us."
"You said-"
"Shit, I know what I said! That was before I got a gander at this flesh. Christ almighty, a man would have to be dead six weeks not to get hot for her."
Warm, hairy flesh scraped against her soft thigh. She moaned and tried to move away from it. A hard pressure forced between her legs, knocking into her pelvic bone and making her wince with momentary pain. But the pain was quickly forgotten as something new touched her, something very smooth and silky and warm. She held her breath, knowing that it was only the beginning. She breathed out in a glorious sigh as the hard, silken skin pushed its way into her vagina, forcing the thick, wet lips apart, bringing instant, fiery secretions from her body. She felt the hot flow begin, wet her, warm her, pour over the thing that had entered her. She sighed and tightened her vaginal muscles to capture the full flavor of the delight.
In the back of her mind, something nagged at her to waken and understand what was happening. She pushed it back. Not now, not now ... Her body was more important than her mind. Her body could not back off the road it had started down.
Her body was growing warm. The man had entered her, and now he was pounding his hard flesh into her vagina, bringing instant passion at its tip. She felt the stiff column of flesh jab into the pulpy, wet walls of her vagina, felt it excite and delight her erotic flesh. She felt her whole body tense as the pressure of passion mounted quickly and filled her. She tried to grab the flailing, pounding, humping form that was on her and in her. One arm moved and felt his arched back, stiff with hairs and sleek with perspiration. She flattened her palm on it and pressed, pulling him closer.
But her other hand was caught somewhere above her head and would not move. Something cold and hard circled her wrist and bit into the flesh when she tried to yank it free. The dim memory nagged at her brain, and she refused it recognition again. Her body recognized the feeling. Her body was on fire. Her body wanted fulfillment.
The voices above her were low foghorns of sound.
"Man, what a cunt!"
"Jeez, look at those tits bounce."
"Oooohhhh! I'm hot as a pistol!"
"Hurry up before I shoot off! Hell, hurry!! ! "
"Yeah, yeaaahhh!! Oooohhhh, baby! Here I come!! ! "
Joyce felt the heaving man slam into her, his breath a backfire against her own. She realized her mouth was open, and she was making whimpering, crying sounds of need. She strained toward the slamming male body, trying to take the full brunt of his passion to fill her. She felt the hot explosion of thick semen burst inside her and flood her cunt. It set off a quivering fire of climax in her. Giant waves of delight spread and washed through her, ebbing slightly like the undertow of the ocean, only to swell again and sweep the shore with new fury. She rose with the crest and fell slowly over it, drained and delighted. She was very warm and very comfortable. Her eyes were still closed, and she enjoyed the pleasant, drifting sensation of the warmth that filled her. She felt light and floating, and she wanted to stay in the euphoria.
The warmth began to pull away. She whimpered, and her one free hand tried to grip the moving body.
Laughter. The voice. "She wants more. See? What'd I tell ya! There's plenty for both of us!"
Cool air touched her damp flesh. She pulled at the thing that held her arm and tried to cover her breasts. She twisted her face in a pained grimace and rolled her head on the fiat pillow. Her knees came up.
Warmth came over her again. New flesh. She felt the cooler body touch her-still warm flesh but not sweaty from exertion. Her mind tried to comprehend, but her body did not struggle. Pressure on her legs again, focusing between them, forcing upward.
At first she thought she imagined it. The pressure on her vulva was easy and hesitant. She was so wet and hot that it barely made an impression, but she sensed the promise behind it, and her body jerked toward it convulsively. Then the pressure became a ramrod, stabbing into her vagina with rapier stroke, piercing her deeply and taking her by surprise with its enormous length and power. It slammed into her with a violence that made her gasp. Her breath whooshed out of her like a bellows, and she blacked out momentarily from the lack of oxygen. But the delight that filled her quickly brought her back to the world of sensuous delight. The heat filled her; the pressure strained at her guts. She felt as if she were being split apart, yet there was no pain, only pleasure. Her entire body arched for the thrust, begged for the delving probe, quivered in anticipation of the lunging delight.
"Aaaaagggghhhh!! " The sound above her was a plea for release.
It stirred her need to fever pitch. She speared her tongue over her dry lips, breathed harshly through her open mouth. "Ooohhh, uuummm, oh, oh, oh, OH!" Her eyes flew open as her entire being climbed to the summit of excitement. She was taut and ready for a new climax, and her flesh was on fire-waiting.
Through glazed eyes she saw his face. The blonde hair fell in long, damp strands over his thin face. His mouth was pulled back in a skull-like grimace, and she saw the tip of his red tongue behind the uneven rows of white teeth. He was panting heavily, gasping for air in his tortured lungs. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She stared at him wide-eyed and nodded her head in spastic jerks to tell him she was coming, too. He was too absorbed in his own lusting, drumming need to know or care. His face twisted in a paroxysm of sudden pain.
He grunted, slammed his penis into her cunt as he let out his breath. He sent out the dammed-up semen in a mighty spurt. Joyce tossed her head in violent acceptance as the hot load spewed into her tunnel of passion. She could hear the wet, slurping sounds each drive into her brought. The new overflow of juice was churned into the old, meeting her new climax and taking her second outpouring of joy juice. Her body throbbed with her own delight and with the pressure of the man slamming in and out of her. Even after he had come, he continued to fuck her with some of the fire in her belly and settled the rippling waves of spent passion.
His eyes never met hers. She watched his face almost abstractly as he finished off his lust and drained his cock in her. His forehead had grown slick with sweat, and in the dim light of the room she saw that he was pale and tired-looking. She realized that her hand was on his buttocks, and she withdrew it quickly. Behind the young man who was hovering over her, his cock still in her but growing soft now, she saw the leering face of Big Mike.
Then she remembered. She remembered where she was and how she had gotten there. Horror filled her, made her recoil from reality. She closed her eyes, screwing them up tight and trying to blot out the picture that had been etched in her brain. But it was no use. She was fully conscious now, and she could no longer hide behind any cloud of doubt. She was a prisoner in this place, and both of these men-strangers-had taken her sexually, used her....
She opened her eyes as she felt the man called Mousey pull out of her. Even in her horror, she whimpered at the loss of the warm delight that had been in her and felt very much alone without it. She shivered and peered at the man as he climbed off the cot and stood beside it. He was still breathing hard, but there was a huge smile on his face.
"Good, huh, kid?" Big Mike said roughly.
Mousey turned his head and grinned. "Hell, yes!" He wiped his hand over his face and shook his head. "That was something!! " He looked back at Joyce and grinned again. "Wow!"
Big Mike laughed, pleased with himself. He bent to pick up his clothes which were scattered helter-skelter on the floor where he'd tossed them in his hurry to board her.
He laughed again. "Yeah, I gotta hand it to the kid."
Mousey looked at him. "Who?"
Mike lifted one foot and shoved it into the shorts he held open in front of him. "Eddie Adamo. Did you know him in the joint?"
"Heard of him. He was in Cellblock B, never saw him much."
"Sharp little shit. He owed me some dough. Come here tonight and couldn't pay it."
"That doesn't sound very smart to me," Mousey said seriously.
Mike laughed. "Yeah. I was all set to have the boys teach him what happens to welchers..."
Mousey was staring at the other man.
Mike yanked his pants up and zipped the fly. He snorted. "But the little shit tells me he's got a deal."
Mousey looked surprised and skeptical. "What kind of a deal?"
Mike jerked his thumb toward the cot and Joyce lying on it. "Her. He trades her for the dough."
"What?" Mousey looked from the man to the girl on the bed.
Joyce felt a cold shock of horror spread over her. Mike was saying what her mind had not wanted to believe, that she had refused to accept even though it had chewed at her mind all the while. He was saying what she had not wanted to hear or believe! He was saying that Eddie had done this deliberately.
"NO!" She thought she cried the word aloud, but neither of the men even glanced her way, and she realized that the scream had been only in her mind. She stared numbly at them, at Big Mike with his grinning self-satisfaction.
Mike nodded his head and cackled a laugh. "Yep. He says he'll leave the girl if I let him go. He says she's a red-hot potato in bed and why don't I expand my activities here and charge a quick ten-spot extra for her services. That way you guys get everything you need right here!" He laughed again. "You don't have to shop for it on the street, and I guarantee she's clean." He shrugged and grinned as he slid his arms into his shirtsleeves. "What more could ya ask?"
Mousey shook his head and laughed softly. "You got yourself a winner, Mike. Hell, there ain't a guy walks out that gate who doesn't figure he needs a drink and broad right off the bat." He chuckled. "What a sweet set-up! You got both of them right here waiting. I gotta hand it to you, Mike, you got smarts."
Mike shrugged. "Hell, I should have thought of it long ago, but-" He looked down at Joyce who still lay in shock on the cot staring at them. "This little cunt beats all the hell outta some whore from the Avenue. I could charge a hell of a lot more for her."
Mousey laughed softly. "You made a deal at ten bills with me, pal."
"Sure, sure," Mike said. But he was looking at Joyce speculatively. "But maybe..."
"Hell, why not," Mousey offered. "Any cunt peddler on the street gets at least twenty, and you take your chances. This one should be worth at least that much, maybe more, seeing as how she's so convenient and all."
Mike rubbed his chin. "Yeah, maybe I will ... " He crammed his shirt into his trousers and patted his fly. He grinned at Mousey. "One roll for the ten spot, kid. You want more, you pay the going rate!"
Both men laughed, and Mousey picked up his clothes. "Jeez, I'm fagged from the one I had. You don't know what it's like waiting four years for a piece of ass. I need a few hours to come back." He glanced at Joyce's naked body stretched out on the bed. "Yeah, I'll come back, too, you can bet on it!"
Mike laughed and started for the door. "Spread the word, too. pal. I got a couple of beds left for tonight if you know anyone who needs 'em." He stopped and frowned, reaching into his shirt pocket and finding a cigar to clamp between his teeth. He patted his pockets as though searching for a match but finally let his hands fall and simply chewed the end of the cigar without smoking it. "But remember," he said slowly and carefully, "I don't want no bums from the street. This is strictly a one-way deal. I provide bed and extras for ex-cons getting outta stir. Nobody else. Christ, I got that goddamn shithead from the welfare agency breathing down my neck enough. I don't want him starting no investigations on how I'm running my halfway house. I gotta provide him a list of names, and I know damn well he's checking them against the parole list. So let's keep it clean."
"Sure, Mike, sure. It's about time someone gave ex-cons a break." He glanced at Joyce and grinned.
"This beats any furnished room any parole officer ever found anyone!"
Mousey began to dress. Mike went out then, and Joyce listened to his steps recede in the hall and down the stairs. Mousey fished a comb from his pocket and pulled it through his long blonde hair. He started for the door.
Joyce felt the panic surge in her. "Oh-" She didn't know if it was a cry of fear or desperation. She couldn't bear the idea of lying alone in the horrible room. Alone with only her memories and conscience to plague her. "Please..."
He stopped and turned to look at her. He seemed older now than she had first thought him, less boyish-looking, harder somehow. Had she fooled herself in the beginning, or had he changed?
"You want something?" he asked.
"Don't ... Oh, please, don't leave me here alone!" Tears bubbled in her eyes and flowed over. "I don't want to stay here alone!" Her voice was filled with panic.
For a long time he looked at her. His face was a mask that told her nothing. She realized then that this was the same way Eddie had looked ... and Mike...
He laughed softly then. He shook his head as if he were explaining something not very complicated to a small child. "You won't be alone very long, baby. Not by a hell of a long shot! No way!! " He laughed again and walked out of the room.
Joyce covered her eyes with her free hand and wept.
8
The large room was very quiet when Mousey's footfalls whispered to silence below. Joyce sobbed and could not force herself to accept what had happened. The tears streamed down her face, and from time to time she moved her head sideways to blot them on the pillow beneath her head. She wanted to scream, yell for help. Would anyone hear her? She thought about the dark street she and Eddie had walked along to get to this place. Most of the other store fronts were locked or boarded up tightly. This one had been the only one with a light on the whole block, and she had not even noticed that there were floors above the street level. That would prove there had been no lights anywhere in upper stories either. She gulped a sob and tried to stop the flood of tears. No one would hear her if she yelled all night. She had to think! She could not lie here and let this thing happen.
More than anything, the pain was because of Eddie. Mike had been telling the truth, she knew. Eddie had done this quite coldly and deliberately to her. She had trusted him, and he had fooled her. She meant nothing to him unless she was useful in some way-in bed or as a trade for the money he owed Big Mike. She shuddered and was suddenly very cold. She was frightened.
After a long time she sat up and examined the handcuff that held her to the bed frame. It was sturdy and secure, and she knew there was no way she could free her arm. The room offered no exit except for the door leading to the stairs-downstairs where Big Mike probably was waiting. There was no way out. She was very definitely a prisoner.
She felt the heavy sludge leak between her thighs. The sex loads the two men had poured into her were sticky and pulled her skin and crotch hair tight as they began to dry on her. She looked around. The small table next to the bed was bare. She leaned over the side of the bed and looked on the floor. She saw the remnants of her clothes scattered along the bottom of the cot. She stretched and finally managed to hook her fingers in one of the broken straps of what had been her nylon slip. She dragged it to her, then sat up again and mopped between her legs with it. She stood half-crouched at the side of the cot and cleansed herself as best she could. Without water, it was a makeshift job, but it helped a little. She wished she had her purse so she could repair the tear-damage to her face and comb her hair. She wondered about the purse and somehow knew that Eddie had rescued it from wherever it had fallen. He was probably sleeping in her bed right now, or enjoying the food from her refrigerator. Oh yes, she knew beyond doubt that Eddie needed a place to stay and would consider her apartment the most logical place as long as he had the keys.
She sat on the end of the bed so the handcuff did not pull too badly and tried to think. What was she going to do? What could she do?
Nothing.
The truth was horrible but inescapable. There was nothing she could do except wait and try to bargain her way out of this mess somehow.
She thought about the two men who had had her. She bit her lip as she realized it had not been totally unpleasant. She had grown excited, just as she had with Eddie on Saturday night. She actually had reached climaxes, enjoyed full orgasms. The realization startled her ... and frightened her even more. Was it really possible for her to enjoy sex as she had without any idea of love? She had convinced herself that Eddie loved her and she loved him. She'd thought that Eddie wanted her as a whole person, not only sexually. But she had been wrong. Could she be wrong about the whole picture of sex she'd fashioned in her mind? Could her body enjoy what her mind rejected?
She shook her head. No, it couldn't be! If it were, she would be some kind of a tramp, and she wasn't! She wasn't!! No matter what they did to her here, she was not a loose-moraled woman, not some strumpet who laid with any man just for kicks.
She jerked at the handcuffs again, and the steel dug into her wrist like teeth. She whimpered and let up on the tension. She glanced around the room, then let her eyes search it again more slowly. There were no windows. It was actually a loft of sorts, probably meant only for storage. What was it Big Mike had said about the welfare department? Did they check on him? How often? Would they come and thus afford her release? She laughed without humor. Not-likely. It was night, probably after ten by now. No one would come to check on anything.
The sound penetrated her mind slowly. Footsteps, eager and quick on the stairs. She whirled and faced the door and held her breath.
The man who entered was short but very broad-shouldered. He had the same pallor that Eddie and Mousey sported, and his eyes looked at her in a sliding glance then seemed to go just past her. Another ex-convict. She didn't doubt it for a second.
She watched him with frightened eyes. He stood in the doorway for a few seconds, then advanced toward her slowly. He turned the corners of his mouth up slightly, but it could not be mistaken for a smile. His red tongue flicked over his lips in three quick passes. He was unbuttoning his shirt as he reached the bed.
Joyce stared at him wide-eyed. She wasn't aware that her head moved from side to side in slow motion. He had the shirt undone, and he pulled it back over his arms to expose his naked, very hairy chest. He was solid, muscled and firm. She saw his muscles move smoothly as he dropped the shirt from his arms and began unbuckling his belt.
She shook her head again. "No..." It was a harsh whisper, forced from her lips by fear.
He laughed mirthlessly. "What do you mean 'no'? " He seemed amused by his own questioning of her.
"I..." She searched desperately for a plea that might reach him. "No ... please, I ... "
The belt dangled from the belt loops, and he slammed the fly zipper down and pulled the pants halfway off in one motion. His crotch came into view. He wore no underwear, and the thick penis was already hard, jutting out the moment it was released from its captivity behind the pants. She stared in fascinated silence, her protests forgotten. He was big, very, very big. His swollen cock dwarfed Eddie's, and it bobbed in jerking movements as he dropped his trousers and stepped from them.
"You like the looks of it, huh?" The idea pleased him. He kicked off his shoes and didn't bother with his socks. He advanced to the bed and stood only inches away from where she sat. She could not take her eyes off the gleaming prick. The swollen head was massive, a capped mushroom on the end of a giant stalk. She could see the slender cord of skin that led from the dented bottom of the cap to the stretched-back foreskin. She remembered what Eddie's penis had been like under her tongue. The saliva flowed in her mouth. The warm secretions flowed in her uterus and vagina. She licked her lips.
"You wanna eat cock, baby?" His voice was a soft invitation over her head.
She could not answer. Her mouth opened, and her tongue moved across her lips again. She heard someone breathing in rasping bursts of air. He moved closer. The tantalizing tip bobbed and glistened with its first drop of moisture.
"I like sucking," he said. The cock was right in front of her mouth. She opened it wider, and the tip touched her tongue. She tasted the salty delight of the smeared fluid, closed her lips quickly over the treasure. He slammed it deeply into her, not waiting for her to suck it, but fucking hard into the hot, dark, wet tunnel of her oral cavity. He grabbed her head, one of his huge hands on each side and pumped her back and forth on his pounding cock.
"Ooohhh! Baby, suck it! Ooohhhyeeaahhh!! ! "
His hands forced her hard onto him, making her mouth come down all the way on the shaft of solid power. She felt it slam against her palate, choke off her breath. She tasted the steady, slow dribble of hot pre-seminal fluid that seeped from the glossy wet tip. She sucked hard, trying to hold the beating, pulsing organ with her tongue and teeth but unable to. He knew what he wanted, and he wanted her to take him his way. She could barely breathe, and her eyes were filled with the thick mat of his pubic hair. She could not close out the fantastic delight in her belly. Somehow, his excitement stirred her and began the new pulsation in her uterus, the new tightening that foretold her excitement. She moved her hips and tried to catch his leg between hers. But he was solidly planted on the floor, and he had forgotten everything but the flaming heat that filled his guts. He had to have this explosion. He couldn't wait to fuck her cunt or ass-hole. He wanted to come in her goddamn mouth! Now!
He jerked her as far onto him as his cock could spear into her throat. It hit bottom, and the sudden pressure detonated his explosion.
"Uuuummm! Aaaggghhh!! Yeah! NOW!" His harsh voice ripped through her fog, and she felt the instant flood of thick juice fill her throat and gag her. She choked and swallowed quickly so she could breathe again. There was a second spurt of come, and she took it easily. She hadn't realized that her free hand was on his ass until that moment. Now she pulled him tight to her mouth as though afraid he might retreat too quickly. She was enjoying the taste of him, and she wanted to suck him more. Her belly was on fire. She had not orgasmed, and her need was thick and heavy inside her. She wriggled her rump on the bed and felt the new dampness seep between her legs. She sucked hard and whimpered as the drained sex organ began to go limp on her tongue. It was like an animal burrowing into a hole-and dragging the hole shut behind it. She whimpered again.
He dropped his hands from her head and heaved an enormous sigh. He stepped back, and she was forced to let go of the limp penis. It slapped against her lip and chin as it fell from her mouth. She tried to grab it with her hand, but he was already backing away from her, staggering slightly as he felt his knees go weak.
"Hey, baby, that was great. Christ, the nights I've spent dreaming about some broad sucking me just like that! You're better than my old lady used to be! Hell, you the best goddamn cocksucker I've ever had ... and that's saying one hell of a lot!"
He grinned appreciatively and started to pick up his clothes. Instead of putting them on, however, he walked to the next cot and hung them on the nail over the bed. She watched him over her shoulder. He wasn't leaving, he was staying. He was-
He crossed to a curtain on the wall and pulled it back. Even without a light in the cubicle, she could sec the faint outline of a toilet and sink. The curtain dropped in place and came to rest. A moment later she heard the sound of his urinating, then the toilet flushed noisily and water ran in the sink. She heard him splashing and washing. When he came out, he was drying his hands on a brown paper towel. She looked at him, and he smiled back at her.
"You're good," he said with a wink. "What a way to come out of stir!"
She saw the paper towel as he readied his arm to toss it in a basket near the bed. "Can you give me a towel to clean up?" she asked.
He stopped and looked at her in surprise. "What?"
"Please," she said. "The others ... " She could not say it. She glanced down at her crotch and looked away, staring at the wall.
"Oh, I get it. Sure, kid." He moved behind the curtain again, and the water ran in the sink. A few seconds later he handed her a damp towel and several dry ones. "Here you go." He yawned then, and stretched lustily. "Christ, I'm beat! I'm gonna hit the sack."
He sprawled onto the next cot, taking time only to yank the cover and top sheet back before falling onto the bed. He covered himself to the waist and rolled with his face toward her. His eyes closed, and seconds later she heard the soft, regular sound of his breathing. He was asleep.
She got up then and hunched over the cot as before so she could scrub at her body with the wet paper. It felt cool and pleasant on her throbbing flesh. She tried to scrub away the heat that was still stored in her body, but it would not relent that quickly. She had become aroused while sucking the man. Sexually aroused, and now it was frustrating not to find the relief she desired. She found it hard to believe that she could feel this way. She didn't even know this man's name! She knew absolutely nothing about him! He had not bothered to introduce himself, and once she'd seen that huge, spearing prick, she had forgotten to ask or even care.
She folded the wet towel carefully and put it on top of a clean one on the floor near the bedpost. She wasn't sure why she did it except that it seemed logical, almost as if she were expecting to need it again.
She lay on the bed again then and studied the ceiling over her. She frowned, and realized she was listening for footsteps on the stairs again!
9
The silence of the room was broken by the man's snoring. For a long time Joyce lay staring at the ceiling and listening to the harsh breathing sounds of the man on the next cot. She pulled the cover over her nakedness and tried to calm the seething heat in her belly. She did not understand any of what was happening. She could not deny the desire, the lust that had grown in her belly while she sucked the man. Was it possible? Or was she some strange kind of monster now that she had discovered what sex was all about?
She shook her head and clamped her teeth in an effort to rid herself of such thoughts.
But the heavy quiet was oppressive and she could not lie still. She twisted and looked at the man on the other cot. He was sacked out in oblivion. She turned and watched the door. From time to time her eyes grew heavy and she closed them for an instant, but she opened them quickly as the tiny noises in the building shifted and alarmed her.
She wasn't sure how much time had elapsed since she'd been brought here, but the minutes moved slowly now. And with each one, her fright intensified. Her arm ached where the handcuff held her to the bed. She eased her weight from side to side, but her arm was already numb, too numb to relax. She flexed her fingers and tried to get the blood circulating. Finally she closed her eyes and breathed softly until she was lulled to a state of near-sleep. Part of her brain was awake, listening and waiting, while another part drifted in a haze of sensuous pleasure as it relived the arousals and orgasms she had experienced.
She was only half-conscious when she heard the voices. She struggled with the dream, discovered it was real. She turned on the bed, wincing as pins and needles raced through her flesh. She opened her eyes halfway and peered toward the doorway.
The voices came closer; footsteps echoed on the stairs. A dark form appeared in the space of the open door. With no light behind it, she had trouble making it out until the man moved forward into the room. And behind him, a second man.
Joyce's heart skipped a beat, and she felt her mouth go dry. The two men advanced to the cot where she lay. A shiver made her tremble, and she could not look at them. In her first glimpse as they entered, she had seen the hard, cold looks on their faces, the unmistakable lust in their leering eyes. They were quite different in looks, yet she knew instinctively that both were ex-cons, both newly released prisoners who would use her for their own relief.
The first man was tall and broad-shouldered, with dark, thin hair that came to a deep peak at the center of his forehead. He looked like a fighter-one who had taken plenty of punches. His nose was crooked and almost flat, his eyes puffy as though the continual swelling had never gone down. He had a scar across the temple that led to his jawbone on the left side. The knuckles of his hands were gnarled and twisted.
The other man was smaller but still fairly tall. Only in comparison to the first man did he look tiny. He was thin and slim-hipped. He wore suntans, and they emphasized his narrow hips. His arms were long and hung loosely at his sides. His hands were huge, with squared fingers and very blunt nails. His hair was sandy in color and thick and wiry. It curled back from his small face and gave him a youthful look. He seemed like the type who should have been riding a tractor on a farm or milking cows. All he lacked was the outdoor, sunburned look that would have gone with such an occupation. Instead, he had the pallor that she had so lately come to recognize in the men who had lived years inside prison walls.
The two men stood near the bed. and she felt them staring down at her exposed shoulders above the blanket. Joyce closed her eyes and waited for the next move.
One of them whispered harshly, "She sleeping?" The voice was almost gentle, and she decided it was the thin man.
The other grunted, and Joyce jolted up as he ripped the cover from her and exposed her nude form. Her eyes were full of terror and her mouth opened.
"Naw, she ain't sleepin' now!" The big man laughed and dropped the blanket at the foot of the bed. "She's had her beauty sleep and now she's already hot and horny, aincha, babe?"
Joyce stared, unable to answer. The man was taking off his clothes even as he spoke. He turned once and looked at the smaller man and gave him a silent signal with his eyes. The thin man began to remove his clothing, too.
Joyce knew what was coming next. She had accepted her fate when the last man had taken her body and made her take his. Most of her fear was gone, except for the portion that dreaded the unknown. Each man who came to her here had one purpose in mind-sex. She knew that. The only thing she didn't know was how each would demand it. She stared at the two bodies in the dimly lit room as they stripped their clothing off. She felt a stir of excitement as the new crotches came into view. She was only mildly surprised to find herself mentally appraising each of the men's sex equipment.
Neither of them was hard and erect as yet. Their penises hung limply over the dark sacs of their balls. The tall man had large, hanging sacs that looked like two tennis balls between his thighs. They were covered with a thick mat of black hair, almost vine-like in texture. The cock was long enough to dangle past the lower edge of the balls. It looked powerful, even in repose.
The smaller man was smaller all the way around. His scrotum was half the size of the other man's, and the penis ended far short of its undercarriage. But the sex organ was thick and promising. The head was completely covered by the layers of foreskin and only a slight bulge showed the demarcation of it.
The taller man seemed to take charge, and the other was quite willing to follow and heed his instructions. The dark man turned to him as he stepped out of his shoes and kicked them aside.
"She's better-looking than the whore we picked up this afternoon."
"Urn, yeah."
"Big Mike says she's hot stuff." He moved toward her, penis swaying like a hypnotic pendulum. Joyce moved her ass back on the bed and relieved the pressure on her wrist. The man seemed to notice the handcuffs for the first time. He frowned and turned to look at the other again. "She's chained."
The younger man glanced in surprise. "Mike didn't say-"
"Shit!" The man learned forward and inspected the cuff on Joyce's wrist. He looked back at his companion. "Go get the key from Mike."
The younger man glanced down at his nude body.
His companion made an impatient gesture. "There ain't no one down there, for crissake! Go get it!"
The man nodded and turned toward the door. Joyce shot a quick glance at his retreating naked figure. The key! They were going to let her go! She was going to be freed. She smiled tremulously at the man who was leaning over her again. He sat on the edge of the bed close to her legs.
"Yeah, I like my women with their hands free! I never got my kicks from screwing no doll that was chained to the bed!" He laughed with an ugly sound. "No dame's ever run away from me when I put her down!" He seemed to be delighted with his own joke, and he laughed lustily, throwing his head back and gulping air between bursts.
Joyce was stunned. Her release then was not freedom, merely convenience. She glanced at the man on the cot several feet away, but the noise had not disturbed him. He was still snoring loudly.
The man sitting beside her reached out and grabbed the closest breast and squeezed it in his huge hand. "Nice tits," he said. He mauled at her mound of flesh with his hand, cupping the weight, squeezing the cone tip so the nipple popped out of its bed of coral flesh and became turgid. He flicked his finger over the corrugated tip, then plunged the digit into it and forced it back into the mountain of white flesh. Joyce gasped. The action sent a quivering flash of fire through her body. She stared at the man, but he was intent on the breast he fondled.
He was still playing with the taut nipple and white flesh when the second man came running lightly up the steps, taking them two at a time in his haste. He entered the room and held out the tiny key for the handcuffs. "Here y'are, Johnny."
The big man grunted and held out his hand. He released Joyce's breast almost reluctantly as he fitted the brass key into the tiny opening in the ring of metal. The lock clicked and the spring opened. Joyce pulled her wrist free and quickly massaged it with her other hand. She could feel both men watching her. The man who had freed her hung the handcuffs over the metal end of the cot and turned back to Joyce with eager eyes and hands.
"That's better," he said with a lopsided grin. "Okay, baby, Johnny's ready, get busy."
She looked at him and did not move. The expression in his eyes altered slightly and the grin became a leer. "I said get busy!" His voice was hard although he had not raised it. The cold glint in his eyes added menace to his tone.
Joyce trembled. She didn't understand. She looked from him to the other man who was still standing just past them and watching his partner. The young man made a quick motion with his head and indicated the dark man's naked torso. Joyce looked back in confusion. The man beside her was still staring at her. His hands were halfway reaching for her, the fingers curled for grabbing her flesh. It was as if he had been frozen in the action, and her following his command was needed to set him off again.
Joyce flicked a very quick look at the other man, and he nodded his head sharply. Joyce lifted her hand and reached for the man's sex organ. His black, glinting eyes followed her motion; his mouth hung open ... waiting. She closed her fist around the soft mound of flesh. She didn't realize that she was holding her breath until she let it out in a ragged sigh. His flesh was warm, incredibly warm and inviting. She worked her hand under the limp rope and lifted it so she could hold it more easily. Without volition, she began to slide her hand up and down. The soft cock offered no resistance, and the flesh jiggled in her cupped hand. Johnny made a small, heavy sound as the pleasure began to flow through him. The cock stirred in Joyce's fist and began to harden. It made short spurts of growth, rested, spurted again.
Joyce had almost forgotten about the other man until he spoke. It was barely a whisper. "Use your other hand on him, too."
She reacted without even thinking about how strange it was for him to make the suggestion. It was as if he had done this before, was a partner to the sexual pleasures of the big man. Her other hand went to Johnny's thigh and caressed it. The thick mat of black hairs were like wire under her palm, and the feel of them excited her. She felt her breath come in sharp gasps, and her hand worked to the inside of the coarse-surfaced flesh. His muscles were like rock, and she felt them tense as she moved her fingers up between his legs. His breathing became audible now, almost panting. The man standing behind them made a grunting sound of agreement.
The sex organ in Joyce's other hand reacted to the stimulation and the spurting growth became steady. Now the cock was rigid enough so it stood up straight as she worked her hand back and forth on it. It was swelling mightily, filling her fist completely and pressing outward with force. She looked at it in awe as the head strained upward from the cocoon of foreskin, pulling it open and finally sending it skinning back as the head gained freedom. The huge bulge capped the stem and shone like a glossy beacon of erotic flesh. She stared at it. The heavy ridge between head and stalk was deep red, as though nature had painted the line as a guide. The head above it was shaped like a helmet, shorter in front where the thin band of skin attached it to the stem, longer in back as though protecting the organ's end. The small slit in the center of the bulge was like a stitch made on the velvet cloth of skin. As she watched, a tiny bit of moisture oozed from the slit and began to spread over the gleaming wonder of the head.
She licked her lips and moved her knees to ease the new tension that was suddenly growing in her abdomen. The hot wetness that had been left by her last encounter, her sucking off the man who now lay sleeping on the next bed, stirred anew. Her lust ripened and began to fill her. Her eyes glinted brightly, and she inched forward over the delightful sex organs under her hands.
"Yeah, baby, go on. I'm getting hot now." Johnny's voice was eager and rasping. His hands grabbed for her breasts again, one to one, grabbing and mauling harshly. She whimpered, but the pleasure very quickly surpassed the momentary pain she felt. Her nipples were hard and surging forth now. Her tits felt as if they were straining for more of his touch. Her body wiggled closer to him, her hands became more eager on his flesh. The hand between his thighs reached his balls and began to massage them, pressing hard to find the solid cores and making some strange chemistry of his body fill the sacs and bulge them into her palm.
He spoke again, and Joyce heard the words without understanding them. There was a flurry of movement as the other man came to the bed.
"Barney, get to work," he said again.
"Yeah, Johnny, yeah!" The smaller man climbed on the bed. Joyce felt his weight shift the springs, and she looked up briefly as he reached for her. His hands were cool on her warm flesh, and she was startled at his roughness. He seemed so gentle...
Johnny's hands at her breasts, Barney's at her legs ... They flung her to the bed, and Barney yanked her legs apart so he could get between them with his thin, bony hand. His fingers pried in her pubic hair, clawed at the thick mound of folded flesh, opened her vulva. She gasped.
Johnny moved to stay in easy range of her hands. He half knelt on the bed so his body was partially over her, his sex organs hanging. She still worked on him in a duet of motion. He bounced up and down on his knees to force her grabbing even harder. His cock was a rod now, stiff and full. It speared up and down at her, aiming toward her body with full promise. She could almost imagine it in her cunt....
But it was Barney's hand in her cunt. His fingers were slick with her juices, and he slammed them in and out of her hot, wet tunnel with violent thrusts. Each time they crammed inside her, he moved them somehow, wriggling them and making them reach high at the walls of her vagina. The sensation was wildly exciting, and Joyce could not lie still. Her hips moved in a pattern of lust, seeking his probes and demanding more from them.
"She's getting hot, Johnny, man, she's all wet and slippery ... nice pussy ... ohhhh, mmmm."
Joyce was on fire. Her body ached for relief. Her thighs were wet, and her belly boiled with hot love juice. Her hand beat a frantic tattoo on the cock it held. It too was wet, but with his seeping pre-seminal fluid. She licked her lips and breathed in broken spurts of need.
"Ooooohhh, aaaahhhh..." It was a cry of desperation that came from deep inside her.
The two men moved in unison. They shoved and lifted her body, and she relaxed and let herself be moved. She even helped. Johnny, the big man, squirmed until he was flat on his back on the bed. His hands on her hips swung her over him, forcing her to straddle his hips with widespread legs. His fingers dug into her flesh, and he jerked her down, forcing her hard onto the javelin of his hard male flesh. It hit its target on the first try, and it was then that Joyce realized Barney was hunched behind her, his hand under her body holding the other man's rigid sex organ upright and aiming it into her open, wet folds of womanhood. The stabbing delight of coming down on him was heightened by the erotic touch of the hand on her intimate and open flesh. He withdrew his hand slowly, and it left a scar-a trail of fire in its wake.
Joyce shuddered with pleasure.
"Okay, doll, start rockin' the boat!" Johnny was leering at her through half-closed eyes, caught in the pleasure of the warm woman-flesh on his prick. His hands were still on her hips and set up the pattern of motion by shoving and pulling her body back and forth on the shafting cock.
Joyce opened her mouth, and a long, strangled cry erupted in her throat as the violent thrusts spurred her to a quick and rushing orgasm. Hot secretions boiled over in her uterus and lathered the thrusting cock as he whipped her back and forth on his hard flesh. He felt the surge of warmth and grinned, baring his teeth and hissing air between them.
The man was intent on his own pleasure, and the added heat of her first orgasm fanned his flames. His cock jammed into the pulpy wet flesh and seemed to sink far into the soft muscle. Each stroke drove Joyce to new frenzy, and still Johnny whipped her body in steady motion without losing his load. It was as if he had to excite himself to fever pitch, needed this wild ride to excite him fully.
Joyce felt the second impending climax tighten her belly. She gasped, threw her head back and moaned as it racked through her. The stab wounds made by his prick drew her into the maelstrom of orgasm. She was dizzy with delight, filled with pleasure, racked with delicious, erotic pain. She forgot the circumstances of her being here and gave herself fully to the pleasure of the moment. It was a very long time before she became aware of her surroundings again. Her body was still flailing back and forth on the man beneath her. His pressure at her hips made the rhythm part of her breathing, and the pure delight of the ripples in her body did not cease. She looked down at him and was surprised to see that her hands were on his chest, grabbing him for support and leverage as she helped him by moving herself on him. She was hot-internally and externally. The room seemed to have grown warm, and her body was filmed with perspiration. She was panting through her open mouth.
Quite suddenly, Johnny yanked her down so she lay flat on his torso. It surprised her, but she had little time to react. He covered her open mouth with his and jammed his thick, wet tongue into her oral cavity. His tongue lashed on her, examined her teeth, lapped at her lips. His huge hands pinned her tightly to his body so she could not move.
She felt the other man's hands for several seconds before she realized that he was behind her. His hands roamed across her ass, prying at her buttocks, pinching her flesh. Johnny let go of her mouth and held her head over his shoulder so he could watch his partner.
"Get in there," Johnny said between gasps. "Now!"
Joyce's face was pressed into his hairy shoulder, and his hands pinned her heavily to him. She was still ecstatic with the delight of his hard, long cock inside her and the orgasms she had already enjoyed. What happened next was too quick for her complete understanding. The hands on her ass pulled, tugged. Her muscles tightened and relaxed spasmodically. Something moved along the crack of her ass and dug deep in the crevice until it found the tight drawstring of her ass-hole. She stiffened with shock. The probe jabbed. She gasped.
"Relax baby relax relax relax-" Johnny's hands stilled her impulse to pull up and his thick prick twitched inside her cunt. The probe found the center of the sphinctered anal muscle and pushed.
"Uuuuugggghhhh!" It was a cry of pain and pleasure. She knew then that Barney was driving his cock into her ass-hole. She experienced a moment of panic as the tip of his cock rammed at her rear gate. She wanted to cry out, to scream in protest against the invasion of her body in such a way. But there was nothing she could do to stop it. She could just barely breath in the vise-like grip of Johnny's hold on her. Then, the tip of the new sex shaft penetrated the tight door of her ass-hole. The pain was exquisite and gave way almost immediately to a burst of flame that swamped her like a brush fire. Barney shoved his ramrod into her body. The nearly dry shaft tore at her flesh and made her shudder with pain. But it was only for a short time.
"Aaaahhh..." She closed her eyes and buried her face in the stiff, unyielding shoulder. She could feel Johnny's hot breath on her neck and his hard, digging fingers on her back. More, she could feel his thick, heavy organ in her cunt, hard and insistent. And meeting it somewhere deep inside her belly, she felt the tremendous pressure of Barney's cock in her rectum. The twin spears lanced at her belly, driving her into a frenzy that was unbelievable. She breathed through her open mouth and lay sandwiched between them, ready for whatever they would give. She was helpless with the need that filled her. All pain and fear were gone, only lust remained.
The man on top of her began to fuck her ass-hole. The steady push and pull of his weight forced her to move on the prick that pierced her cunt. The beat became a rhythm; the rhythm grew wilder and wilder. Joyce rose to the pinnacle of lust. Her mind soared and grew hazy with consummate pleasure. Her flesh came alive, eating up the two men in her. Her hard tits dug into the hairy chest of the man under her; her ass rubbed sensuously on the smooth belly and thighs of the man on top of her. She listened to the sounds of their double intercourse, unable to sort voices, even her own.
"Christ, I'm hard and hot!"
"Ohhhh, man!"
"What a hole!"
"Aaaggghhh!! "
"Uuuuummmm..."
Joyce felt the two spurts of molten lava spew into her cunt and ass-hole. Caught between them, her orgasm erupted in a burst of ecstatic flame. Her whole body and mind were engulfed in the fire. Flames licked at her inside and out. She heard the sounds she made dimly...
"Yeeesss!! Ooohhh!! Mmmmm! Aaaahhhh!! ! "
Her head reeled. Her mind was satiated with white-hot, blinding pleasure. Her body was filled with the violence of her ecstatic orgasm. It was a very long time before she lay limp and still between the two men.
10
Joyce lay where the two men discarded her as they climbed from her. She was totally wrapped in the delights of her flesh and unable to bring herself from the foggy mist of pleasure. She did not want to. The oblivion was caressing and comforting. She did not have to think about what had happened or recall the circumstances that had brought her here. She needed only to drift and float in the waves of pleasure and delight.
After a long time she became vaguely aware of sounds in the room. She lay, eyes closed, listening to them and trying to force her mind to work and make sense from them. Voices, muted and sounding distant, were a low hum around her. Feet moved on the bare floor. Beds creaked; water splashed.
She drifted to sleep and dreamed of hands caressing her and finding new ways to thrill her. Her entire body still reveled in the delights of the sex play she had had, and her lips curved in a smile as she slept. The dream hands touched her erotic flesh, excited her, sent shivers of pleasure through her anew. She hugged her knees to her body and savored the delight over and over as she dozed.
When she emerged from the fog, she realized the room was quiet. She opened her eyes slowly and looked around. None of the men had bothered to turn out the harsh, naked light that glared but barely lit the room. She glanced at the other beds and saw that all three men now slept. The two who had had her last lay, barely covered by the sheets they had pulled over them, on the first two cots across the room. Slowly, Joyce sat up and looked harder at them. The smaller man, the one the other had called Barney, was directly across from her. His legs were tangled in the sheet and had drawn it to a tight knot between his knees but left his crotch exposed. She could see the dark mound of his penis and scrotum as they sagged across his thigh in complete repose. Her breath fluttered in her chest as she recalled the tight, hard, pounding cock as he'd thrust it in her ass-hole. She felt her face grow warm at the memory. She had never known such things were possible, that she would ever allow such an act on her body, yet she had enjoyed it. She let her gaze move to the other man, Johnny. He was turned away from her so she could only see the high, jutting curve of his buttocks. He had scorned the blanket and sheet completely, as though his own body heat were sufficient for the cool evening. It had been more than enough for her, she thought. He had filled her cunt completely and warmed her from the inside out. She licked her lips as she thought about the hard shaft that had jolted up into her belly and lighted fires of lust. She studied the thick screen of black hairs that almost covered his body. Funny, she thought, but when she'd gotten very hot with him, she had not noticed the hairiness at all.
She sat looking from one to the other of them. She should feel differently, she told herself. Had she no shame? Could she be used so blatantly and feel nothing but the pleasure of the acts? What was happening to her?
Alone with her thoughts, she knew she had enjoyed every second of it once the initial fear and shock had worn off. She had enjoyed and needed the physical fulfillment once the men had aroused her.
With a start, she realized now that Johnny had not put the handcuff back on her! She lifted her arm and stared at the free wrist in surprise. Then she looked at the foot of the bed and saw that the metal cuffs still hung where he'd put them. She was no longer bound to the bed!
She eased herself to the edge, put her feet on the floor and stopped, listening. There was no sound in the room except the heavy breathing of the men as they slept and the harsh rasp of the air that struggled through her own lungs. All of a sudden, her heart was pounding at the idea of freedom. No matter how much she had enjoyed the sex, she had no desire to stay here-a captive with no control over her life. She was still frightened of Big Mike and the men he brought here to this strange place.
Very slowly, she stood up. Her thighs were sticky and damp with the residue of the intercourse, and her rectum was sore from the forced action in it. She thought about cleaning herself in the minuscule bathroom but was terrified that the running water might wake one or more of the sleepers and bar her exit. She picked up the wet towel she had put near the bed earlier and scrubbed at herself with it. It was hardly damp now, but it was better than nothing.
She stepped forward and almost panicked as a board creaked beneath her weight. It sounded like a rifle shot in her ears, but no one reacted to it. She stepped again, finally trusting herself to walk carefully to where her clothes were strewn on the floor where Big Mike had left them. Big Mike-She halted her movements. Was the man still downstairs? Would she escape from this room and walk right into his waiting arms downstairs? A sob bubbled up in her throat. She swallowed it with great difficulty. She had to take that chance. She had to at least try to get away.
She pulled on her blouse and skirt. The slip and bra were useless, ripped almost in half by the force with which Mike had torn them from her body. She remembered her stark terror and found it amazing that she could be as calm as she was now. Maybe it was because she no longer feared the sexual threat of the men who approached her. She had discovered that it was fun for her as well as relief for them. Only the circumstances bothered her now.
She buttoned her blouse and stuffed it into her skirt. As she looked down at herself, she could see the hard pips of her nipples push outward under the cloth of the blouse. The garment was not sheer, but Joyce felt very undressed without her slip and bra. She wished now she had worn a jacket, but it had been pleasant when she and Eddie left her place and come here.
Eddie! She had forgotten him these past hours. He seemed to be part of her past life somehow. She knew now that he had deliberately used her for his own freedom. He cared nothing for her or her safety. He had bargained her body for the money he owed, or at least left her as-what was it Big Mike had called her?-collateral. She stuffed her panty hose into the pocket of her skirt and slipped her bare feet into her shoes. Eddie had never been serious about her at all. She was the one who had read meanings into his bits of attention, decided he must love her because she had been carried to heights of passion and emotion. She laughed silently. In her loneliness and eagerness, she had mistaken his sexual need for love. Now she knew better.
She moved across the room slowly, glancing back every few steps to make sure none of the men woke and saw her leaving. Would they stop her? She wondered ... and thought they would not, but she couldn't take the chance. They might be just as afraid of Big Mike as Eddie had been, and willing to sacrifice her for their own safety.
She was in the hall. It was dark, almost black. The light from the room behind her barely penetrated the darkness here, and she put her hand out and felt for the stair railing. When she found it, she tested the void ahead of her with her foot until she felt the first step. Holding on tightly, she went down.
The steps creaked and groaned alarmingly, but even though she listened carefully, the sounds brought no answering movement anywhere in the building. The men behind her slept soundly, and if anyone were downstairs, they waited in silence. Her breath was tightly coiled in her lungs, and she had to let it out in measured amounts to keep from gasping loudly.
She moved slowly and still almost pitched forward when she came to the last step and was on the flat floor again. She slid her hand to the end of the rail and touched the post. She had to think. Which direction had Harry dragged her when they came through the door? Here, the light upstairs was no help at all, and she stood in the pitch blackness and tried to think where the door was. Turned around the way she was, she could not envision it at all. She put both hands out in front of her and moved forward very cautiously. In three steps she hit the wall. She stopped and waved her hands on it in huge, sweeping motions, trying to locate the doorknob. After several minutes, she decided she had the wrong wall. She sidestepped until she came to the corner, then turned to repeat her hand movements on the wall. After several tries, she hit the knob. She grinned with delight in the darkness, but the smile left quickly as she once more thought of the unknown that lay in wait on the other side of the panel. She held her breath and turned the knob.
It moved easily, and in a moment the door swung open at the pressure she put to it. The room beyond was dark. She let her breath out in a long, low sigh.
She stood in the doorway a minute, trying to let her eyes adjust to the difference in the darkness. It was only a tiny bit lighter here, and she stared into the vague dimness. Ahead were the storefront windows that faced the street. The ones that had been painted over. But tiny pinpoints and lines of light from outside leaked through where the paint was scratched and thin. After several seconds, she could make out vague images, shadows in the room. The big table where Mike had sat. A chair. The door.
And the room seemed to be empty.
She pulled the hall door closed behind herself and walked across the void toward the rectangle of the dark door. Each step was a heavy thud in the silence no matter how much she tried to silence it. no
Then she was there. Heart still pounding, she felt once more for a knob. It was an easy search this time, but an unrewarding one. Her hand tightened around the knob, but it did not move. She tried again, turning harder, but nothing happened. Frantically, she twisted and jerked at the knob, trying to force it by strength and will power. But it was futile. Hot tears stung her eyelids as she realized all the effort she had put into her escape had been in vain. The tears overflowed and scalded her cheeks. She almost gave in to them and to the self-pity she felt, but she knew that would get her nowhere. She gritted her teeth and tried to think.
Certainly the door had to be locked from inside. Suppose there was a fire or one of the men upstairs wanted to leave? No one would bolt them in. Big Mike believed she was safely chained to the bed upstairs, so he would not think to bolt the door to bar her escape.
She ran her hands over the painted glass and doorframe in search of a key or bolt. She found a keyhole, but it was empty. Damn! But if her idea was right, the key had to be available, too. If one knew where to look for it. She took a deep breath and began to search the doorframe carefully with her fingers and palms. She worked her way around the door except for the top edge which was too high for her to reach. A ledge maybe? A hook? She stood on tiptoes and stretched as high as she could. Her fingers barely touched the crack where the top of the door met the frame. She moved her hand sideways slowly. It was difficult to reach, and new sobs threatened her composure.
She felt it then. The hard, cold metal of a dead bolt. She laughed and cried at the same time, trembling as she felt for the small handle that would release the lock. It was so hard to reach! Frustrated, she fumbled, missed. She came down flat on her feet and took a deep breath. She had to do it! She had to!
She stretched again and finally found the protrusion of metal that worked the bolt. She clutched it as best she could in her precarious position, pushing and pulling at the metal desperately. But she could not get enough power behind her fingers. It was all she could do to hold the small handle! She let her weight down again and leaned her face against the door panel in shivering frustration. She blinked back the continually threatening tears and took a deep breath.
She was just about to try again when she heard the noise. It was barely audible at first, but it was distinct and alarming. It was the unmistakable creak of a board as someone stepped on it. She turned slowly and peered into the darkness behind her. She couldn't see anything. The room was still deep in its night gloom, shadowed and still. She held her breath.
So close! Freedom was just the other side of the panel, and she could not gain it! She bit her lip and listened again. The creak came again, and she realized it was not in the room but somewhere beyond. She cocked her head and strained to hear and identify the source of the sound. It came from the other direction, the other side of the room-toward the back. She frowned in the darkness and tried to recall if there had been another door ... She had been so frightened, she couldn't remember now, couldn't summon an image of the room in her mind.
The sounds increased-a door opening-water-a toilet flushing. She knew then that there was indeed another door to another room! Of course! The door was bolted from the inside! Whoever had bolted it had to still be in the building!! And Johnny and Barney had been upstairs all the time after getting the key from Big Mike.
Panic swelled in her chest now. The sounds did not fade beyond the unknown door. She pressed back against the front door and knew she was trapped. She could not work the bolt free and escape without alerting whoever was there...
She stifled a scream as a door opened suddenly and a shaft of light fell across the store and caught her where she stood. She had only an impression of the huge figure that stood framed in the lighted doorway. She closed her eyes and bit hard on her Up as she waited for her doom to be sealed.
11
Panic made her numb, and she was only half-aware of the events that followed. She remembered Harry's angry face looming over her, his rough hands dragging her across the room and up the stairs. She remembered being flung across the cot and hitting her head on the metal frame. Her vision was blurred by pain and tears; her head rang with a dull clang of hopelessness. She heard Harry's muttered curses and felt the harsh clack of the metal cuff on her wrist.
Painful minutes ... strained breaths ... silence again ... Her head roared, and her body throbbed. Cautiously, she opened her eyes. Slowly she looked around. She was back on the cot, chained again to the bedpost. She had gambled and lost.
She closed her eyes wearily and waited for morning.
When she woke, it surprised her that she had slept. She had been more tired than she thought, and the sleep had been heavy and thick, affording little relaxation. Her body was cramped and achy. She moved gingerly and felt the muscles protest. She flexed her hand and tried to restore circulation in the arm that was stretched up to the handcuffs.
She felt dull and numb. Her mind did not want to waken with her body. It was the hopelessness of the night before holding her prisoner as well as the chained wrist. She pushed herself up on her elbow and looked around the room. The bed next to her was empty. The man whose name she had never learned was gone. She had not heard him at all....
She looked across the room and saw that Johnny and Barney were still there. Barney was still curled in a semicircle and sound asleep. Johnny was just stirring to wakefulness. Joyce lay down quickly and watched the man through half-closed eyes. She suddenly remembered that he was the one who had left her unchained last night. Would Harry cause trouble about it?
Johnny pushed his legs over the side of the cot and sat with his hands covering his face for a few minutes as he tried to rouse himself fully. Joyce saw the huge penis and was amazed to see that it was hard and jutting. Last night it had been soft until she had excited it with her hands. How...? ?
He hot up from the bed then, and she closed her eyes quickly. She heard him walk past her and go into the tiny cubicle of the bathroom. She tried to block out the sounds of his performance there, but she was too close to be successful. She waited until the water in the sink was turned off, then opened her eyes a slit to watch him emerge. She forgot to pretend sleep when she saw his sex organ now. It was as limp and dangling as it had been the first time she saw it.
He barely glanced at her as he walked by the cot again. At the other side of the room, he nudged the sleeping Barney with a heavy hand. The younger man turned and yawned, then sat up quickly as he saw the other standing over him. He swung himself out of bed and padded to the curtained doorway. He flicked something resembling a smile in Joyce's direction as he passed.
Johnny was half-dressed by the time Barney returned and got his clothes down from the nail where he'd hung them. Both men dressed in silence. They seemed to be in a hurry and completely disinterested in her. Neither had given her more than the slightest glance. With a start, Joyce realized that she was still dressed in her blouse and skirt! Harry had dumped her on the bed the way she was without undressing her. If either of these men noticed the change from the way they had left her last night, they said nothing. Their guarded expressions told her nothing of their thoughts. It was as if they had spent so much time being careful not to let out their feelings that they could not change the patterns now that they were out of jail.
The men heard the sound of steps in the hall before she did. They both turned and watched the doorway. Joyce turned and looked. Harry strode into the room, face scowling.
He shot a hard look at the two men across the room before he looked at her. But he said nothing about her attempted escape of last night. They were not going to be taken to task for their forgetfulness.
Harry bent over her and worked the key into the lock of the handcuffs. He pulled the metal rings free of her wrist and the post and motioned for her to get up. She did, slowly and with tingling numbness. Harry jerked his thumb toward the curtain and turned away from her. He was letting her use the bathroom. She stumbled forward on feet that were still asleep and were shooting with needled pain. Inside the curtain, she quickly used the toilet, then washed her hands and face at the sink. On second thought she pulled up her skirt, took down her nylon briefs and cleansed her private parts with paper towel and soap. The stinging soap felt good, and she scrubbed harder than she really had to. Finally she dried herself and put her clothes back in place. She wadded up the towels and dropped them into the tin can that served as a wastebasket. There was no mirror, but she raked her hair with her fingers and patted it in place. Did it make any difference how she looked, she wondered?
Harry was waiting for her outside the curtain. He jerked his head for her to follow him, and he started toward the door to the hall. She realized that the other two men were already gone. She moved in front of Harry and went to the door. She paused and glanced at him. He made an impatient gesture, still scowling heavily. She started down the poorly lit stairs.
In the room downstairs, Big Mike was behind the table, a folded newspaper open in front of him, the unlit cigar still between his teeth. If he heard her enter, he paid no attention. The light was on, but Joyce could see that beyond the glass it was daylight.
Mike studied the paper before him intently. He ran his finger down a column of small print followed by numbers. Joyce wondered what absorbed his attention so completely. Then he reached out a hand without taking his eyes from the paper and picked up the phone. He put it to his ear, looked at the dial long enough to spear his finger to seven digits, then leaned back in his chair and looked at her while he waited for his answer on the line. The cigar angled upward as he clamped it and spoke.
"Mike Tully. Two fins on Payoff in the fifth. Yeah ... Right." He hung up the telephone and looked at the newspaper again before he laid it aside. Then almost casually, he looked at Joyce. But there was nothing casual in his expression. His eyes were dark and glinting, piercing the little composure Joyce had left. He was angry. A deep scowl tracked between his drawn brows, and the corners of his mouth turned down.
He looked at her a long time before he spoke. "Goddamn bitch." The two words sliced through the silence like daggers. "I should beat the shit out of you." The cigar worked across the thin line of his mouth and burrowed into the corner.
Joyce ran her tongue inside her teeth and tried to relieve the sudden dryness without success. She didn't have to ask what he meant. It was all too clear that he was angry about her attempt to escape last night. Harry had told him. And he had not blamed Johnny who had forgotten her chains, but he blamed her for daring to take advantage of the chance she had. Her chest was very heavy as she realized again that these men thought very differently than she did, and they were all alike in many respects. And she was caught in the middle of them. What was he going to do now?
She watched him in fright. She could feel Harry's eyes on her. Big Mike thumped his chair upright and found a pencil in his pocket. He picked up the newspaper and began to study it, making small marks with the lead from time to time.
Joyce shifted her weight and finally glanced at Harry. His beady eyes told her nothing. They were apparently waiting for something, and she was not to be told what it was. She didn't know if the thought frightened her more than she had been, or if it was somehow reassuring. If Mike planned to hurt her, why would he wait? She was uncomfortable standing there, but she dared not move. The less attention she called to herself, the better she liked it.
She was hungry, she realized suddenly. She had no idea what time it was, but her stomach felt empty and gnawing. She jumped when the door from the street opened. Her head swiveled automatically to see who it was. Her mouth opened, and she made a quick move toward the door.
"Eddie!! "
Harry's beefy hand shot out and grabbed her arm, his fingers biting into her flesh cruelly. She winced but did not cry out. Her pleasure and relief at seeing Eddie was almost too much to bear.
But he didn't look pleased to see her. His eyes flicked over her and went to Big Mike behind the desk. His lips worked into a worried smile as he closed the door and crossed the room. He didn't quite sidestep her, but he managed to avoid coming close enough for her to reach out to him. He shot her another nervous glance, then looked back at Mike.
"I got the word you wanted to see me...? " There was a questioning note of hope in Eddie's voice as he spoke to the man behind the table.
Mike didn't stop examining his paper. He was giving Eddie the same cold treatment he had given her. She could see Eddie tremble and try to hide it. After several seconds, Mike looked up and fished in his pockets for a match. When he found a book, he opened it slowly and broke off one of the paper matches, struck it and held it under the end of his cigar while he puffed slowly and deliberately. He shook the flame out and tossed the dead match to the floor over his shoulder. He stared at Eddie through the blue haze of smoke.
"I want my dough," Mike said slowly.
"Shaddup!" Mike barked the command and leaned forward, elbows on the table. He glared at Eddie. "I ain't gonna say it again. I want my dough." There was a deadly note in his voice.
Eddie's hand shook as he held it out toward the man. "Sure, sure, Mike, but I-I thought we had a deal?" He looked puzzled under the fright.
"I changed my mind. This broad is trouble, and I don't want her around."
"But-"
Mike silenced him with another look. "Your idea is terrific, but the merchandise stinks."
"She's-" Eddie whipped his head around and gave Joyce a hard look, as though this was her fault somehow. He swung back to Mike.
"Yeah, she's a nice piece of ass, okay, but she don't like playin' the game. She tried to sneak outta here last night. Any dame dumb enough to try to sneak out on Big Mike Tully is stupid enough to bring the fuzz and plenty of trouble." He took the cigar from his mouth and looked at the smoke curling from it critically. He put it between his teeth again and fixed his stare on Joyce.
"Listen to me, babe. Eddie's gonna take you outta here. I could have someone else take you for a nice ride on some lonely road outta town, but I'm gonna let you go home with Eddie. I don't want your lip loose, is that clear?" He almost snarled at her.
She wasn't absolutely sure she understood his words, but she knew the threat behind them was very real. She didn't want to have them made any clearer. She nodded her head mutely. She would do anything to get out of there.
Mike turned back to Eddie. "You did me a favor, kid. like I said, your idea is good. For that, you get an extension in time. You got a week to pay up the money before I lean on you again." He smiled like a cobra.
Eddie swallowed hard and bobbed his head. Joyce recognized the fear that tormented him. She knew beyond doubt that he was concerned with his own safety-and that was the way it had been all along. She wondered how she could have ever thought he loved her, or she him.
"Okay," Mike said. "Now get the hell outta here and don't come back without the dough. And don't bring her back at all." He jerked his head toward the door and picked up the racing sheet to indicate that the conversation was ended. Eddie stood a moment, then quickly turned and tried to bring up a smile for Joyce. It wasn't very convincing.
"Come on, baby, let's blow." His voice shook as well as his hand. He took her arm, and Harry uncurled his fingers from the other one. Eddie propelled her toward the door. He stopped a second as he started to open the door, and looked back at the man sitting at the table. Mike squinted in the cloud of smoke around his head and devoted his full attention to the paper in front of him.
Eddie licked his lips and pulled the door open, hurrying her out. The door swung shut with a clatter behind them. Eddie turned and pulled her along with him as he hurried down the street. He was almost running.
12
Joyce had to run to keep up with Eddie's long strides. It felt good to be outside and free, yet her insides were knotted with anger and confusion. She was angry that Eddie would think she was dumb enough to simply follow him and do his bidding now. She had made that mistake yesterday, but she was wiser now.
When they reached the corner, she jerked her arm free from his grip and stopped. He stopped and glared at her.
"Come on, I don't want to hang around here! Christ, if he changes his mind-" He glanced back toward the door they came out of, and the new fear worried his forehead.
She sighed. "Stop it, Eddie, it's no use."
"What? What the hell are you talking about?" He looked at her curiously.
Joyce looked past him at the dingy street. The sun was fairly high in the sky, and it cast weak rays down between the ancient moldering buildings. It did little to brighten the grimy street that looked even shabbier by daylight than it had the night before. "I'm talking about us." She swung her glance to his face. "You sold me out to that man last night."
He tried to look shocked, but it didn't quite come off.
She shook her head. "You knew what you were doing, and you tried to save your own neck. You didn't care about me. You don't now."
"Aw, baby, don't talk like that-"
"Stop it, Eddie. I'm not quite that dumb." She lowered her voice as a ass stumbled past, holding one hand to the walls to stay upright. She knew she looked a sight and imagined even the ass could guess what had happened to her.
Eddie stepped closer, and his hand went around her waist. "Look, baby, I'm sorry. You're right. I was scared, but I knew Big Mike wouldn't hurt you. Honest."
Coming from him, it was laughable. She shook her head.
"No kidding," he said earnestly. "Big Mike is plenty tough. But you ask anyone, and you'll see he's got a rep for a soft spot for dames. He never hurt a broad, not really hurt-"
She stared at him with shocked eyes. "So that makes everything all right? Is that what you're saying?" She couldn't believe what she heard.
"Naw, naw." He hooked his arm through hers again and urged her to walk with him. There was no point in standing on the corner, and she fell in step beside him. But she was still angry and hurt.
"All I meant was I knew Mike wouldn't hurt you. I knew it was safe to leave you there and buy myself some time. I need time, that's all." He looked at her and lent her his easy smile.
"Your friend who wouldn't hurt a woman handcuffed me to the bed upstairs," she said coldly.
He raised his eyebrows. "Yeah?" The ghost of a smile hovered on his lips. "Some guys get their kicks out of tying gals up. I didn't know it was a hang-up with Mike."
She was horrified! He accepted the bondage idea so quickly as merely a variation on the sex theme he considered natural. She choked back the angry words she was ready to fling at him as she was swept by a sudden memory of how much she had enjoyed being the recipient of the sex last night. Would she have enjoyed being taken by strangers if she had been free to resist? The idea nagged at her conscience, and she was afraid to admit the truth. She had not minded being bound to the bed It had actually been a way out for her guilt.
She walked beside him silently then. Her mind went over the past few days, the days since she had first met Eddie Adamo. Did she have any regrets? Would she have changed anything were she able? Again she could not answer herself truthfully.
On the next corner he dug in his pocket and came up with change just as a bus pulled to the curb. He stepped on as the door opened and left her to follow. She did, staring at the floor and her rumpled clothing. The bored bus driver paid no attention to them but watched the coins drop into the basket and click their way into the coin box below.
When she slid onto the seat, she got the first glimpse of her image in the window. She was a mess. Her hair was tangled around her head, and her eyes were puffy. Without makeup she looked tired and worn. She remembered her purse. She asked Eddie what had happened to it.
He flicked a glance and a smile at her. "I took it home for you." He looked out the window. "No telling what that thieving Harry would do with it."
She said nothing more but settled to ride in silence. After a while, the streets began to look familiar, and she realized that they were heading toward the house where she lived. She didn't know what she had expected, but she hadn't let herself think this far ahead.
At her corner, they got off and walked down the street. A few inquisitive people turned to stare at her as they hurried along. She knew she was out of place in this neat, if shabby neighborhood, and she was embarrassed to pass people she had seen before. If Eddie noticed the stares, he said nothing. He rushed along the sidewalk, then up the steps of her building. To her surprise, he took her key case from his pocket and opened the door. Upstairs, he unlocked the apartment, and they went in.
Joyce looked at the tiny place. The bed was down and unmade after someone had slept in it. There were dirty dishes in the sink and an ashtray nearly overflowing on the small table next to the easy chair. She looked at Eddie questioningly.
He grinned disarmingly. "I stayed here last night."
She accepted the words numbly. Nothing he said or did would really surprise her any more. He had obviously made himself at home. She wanted to get angry, shout at him, but she was strangely lacking wrath. It was as if by accepting his lovemaking, she had accepted the whole man. Even the deal with Big Mike didn't change his attraction for her. Her logic told her she was on thin ice, that she should back away from this unusual young man who had served time and come from a world she knew nothing about.
He was still grinning at her. He moved forward, and she watched him as if she were in a theater seeing actors on a screen. He held out his arms. She stood very still. He stepped to her and took her in his arms, pulling her close. Her head bent back, and she was looking up into his incredible dark eyes, feeling his suggestion, knowing what he was going to do, but unable to stop him. His mouth came toward hers, lips parted, red-tipped tongue glistening wetly behind perfect teeth. He breathed across her mouth, then covered it with his. Joyce watched his eyelids flutter and close. She felt his tongue probe between her lips, forcing an entry.
She sighed and relaxed into the embrace and opened her mouth to accept him. His hands were eager on her back, pressing and rubbing, sliding under the blouse, kneading her bare flesh. One came around to her breast and cupped it gently, then squeezed erotically. He searched for the nipple and teased it with his fingertips. She sighed again and let him arch her body to his, forcing her soft curves to the sharp, masculine planes of his body. He pressed hard to her, and the bulge of his crotch was warm between her thighs. His body moved; the bulge came up and set fire to her need. He wriggled against her and would not let go of her mouth. The kiss became raw desire, and she clung to him desperately.
When he finally freed her mouth, she buried her face in his neck. "Oh, Eddie..."
"Baby, baby," he whispered, still fondling her tit and rubbing her buttocks with his palm. He began to work the cloth of her skirt up in his fingers, bunching it until he could get at her ass. He slipped the panties down over her hip bone and grabbed one sphere of her ass and held it.
"Eddie..."
"I wanna fuck you, baby ... God, I'm hot for you! I've been dreaming about you for days and now I gotta have you." His whispered words fanned the flames of her need. Her body was on fire, needing him, wanting him. Nothing else mattered. Nothing else existed. "Yes, oh Eddie, yes..."
She was vaguely aware of his moving her to the bed, putting her back on it gently. His hands were gentle at her clothing, unbuttoning, removing. He stroked her naked flesh with long, sensuous strokes, pausing at intimate places and delighting her with erotic play, teasing, pleasing. He stripped off his own clothes and cast them aside before he bent over the bed and began kissing her. He started at her thighs, gentle, warm kisses blazing a trail up her legs. She moaned and twisted on the bed as he reached her crotch and the pressure and heat of the contacts increased. She closed her eyes and moaned in ecstasy.
"Oooohhhh, Eddie ... Eddie..."
"Mmmmmm." His answer was muffled from her pubic hair. She spread her legs, wanting and willing him to enter her, but the kisses blazed a new trail of hot desire up her flat white belly. She was beside herself with delight, barely able to contain her whimpering sobs of pleasure. He kissed her breasts, letting his tongue linger at the nipples until they were hard pips jutting from their beds of coral. He sucked each of them gently in turn. Joyce tried to grab his head, but he started kissing his way back down her body. This time he worked over the belly to her jutting hip bone and around to the fuller flesh of her ass. He pulled her up so she turned partly on her side. She moved willingly even though she had no idea of what he was going to do next. She knew only that she loved his touch, wanted it, wanted him. Quite carefully and deliberately he began to bite her ass. Little, nibbling bites that did not hurt but made her very hot indeed. She was being consumed by the flames of lust now. She clung to him, her hand searching for his cock. She found it and clamped her hand around its tight fullness. He let her fall back onto the bed and lifted one of her knees so her legs were spread, then quickly shoved his face into the inviting triangle. His hot tongue speared into the heavily-haired folds of her cunt.
Joyce cried out with delight and clutched the heavy cock harder. She began to move her hand on the tool as though to tell him of her need-the need she still could not put into words. His tongue worked between the folds and found her clitoris. She jumped with the sudden spurt of intense passion the action brought. Her legs trembled and her hips raised off the bed to meet his darting tongue. He began to flick it in and out of the sexy portal very quickly. Joyce moaned, groaned, twisted and yanked at his hard, swollen shaft of manhood.
Eddie moved his body on the bed so he could clutch her tit with one of his hands. With the other, he kept rubbing her thighs, darting his fingers where his mouth played eagerly. Everything he did was so exciting, Joyce was a blur of wild need and lust. She wanted him. She wanted him desperately. And she wanted him now.
"Eddie, oooohhhh, please-please!! " She didn't realize how loudly she'd cried until she heard the sound in her own ears.
He took a last lick at her cunt and turned again so he straddled her. "You want it, baby?" He grinned at her.
"Yes, yes, oooohh yes!! " She bobbed her head frantically. "I need you!"
"Here it comes, doll! Pull your legs up!"
She pulled them up quickly and let her knees fall apart to accept his body between them. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he began to descend and enter her. She felt the hot tip press against her labia and gasped. The pressure increased and the cock began to move into her. She opened her mouth but no sound came out. Her breath was a fireball in her chest, her heart stopped beating for the endless seconds of eternity as the long, golden firebrand pierced her all the way. It dug into the pulpy wall at the deep end and forced open the tiny tight muscle of her uterine passage. In that instant, a blinding light blotted out Joyce's vision, and she catapulted into a lush and lovely orgasm. She held him close and breathed out with a huge rush of air. But he was already moving, fucking into her with the violence of his own need. She was excited again instantly, as though the first mighty climax had been only a beginning. Her body throbbed and began to move with the steady, pounding rhythm of his flesh in her.
Her fingernails dug into the tight muscles of his shoulders and raked at his flesh as passion overwhelmed her. Her whole body responded to his intercourse; she reached for him, grabbed with legs, arms, hands and cunt. She held him tight, rode him as he heaved and bucked his manhood at her. She felt the hard swelling grow and give the promise of his ejaculation. She knew he was almost ready. Her two-night venture into sex had taught her that much. And she was ready for him.
She gripped him so tightly that the force of his strokes pulled her up and down with his body.
"I'm gonna come, baby! Yeeeaaahhh!! Here it comesss!! ! "
His words were unnecessary. His whole body was quivering and sweating with his need. She felt the enormous pressure build in his prick and swell inside her. Her own heat burst into new flame, and she felt the warning tingles that signaled her orgasm.
His eruption was a spinning cyclone of molten steel in her cunt. The semen blasted inside her like a dynamite explosion, setting off her orgasm and beating it to white heat. Joyce bucked up to force her hips hard to him and take the full impact of his fucking blows. She clung to him, legs still twined around him and arms clinging to his sweaty shoulders. Her eyes were closed, and she was lost in the delight of the moment ... a moment that lasted for a very long time.
When Eddie finally stopped his movements in her, she was limp and exhausted, and her brain refused to function. She knew only the smothering passion that had filled her and been quenched by his body. She was dimly aware of his untwining her legs and arms from his torso and flopping onto the bed beside her. She lay inert, savoring the waves of backwash from the orgasm that still fanned through her in widening circles. She smiled and lay with her eyes closed. She was safe now, safe with Eddie. And she was his.
13
When Joyce stirred herself, Eddie was lying with his arm under his head while he smoked a cigarette lazily. She smiled and rolled toward him, throwing her arm over his slim, hard body. She loved the feel of him, touching him and knowing he was close. He glanced at her carelessly and half grinned, then blew smoke upward.
She kissed his bare chest and snuggled her head on his shoulder. "Oh, Eddie. I'm happy to be back with you. You make me feel so good." She pressed her belly against his hip and rubbed her skin against his. She closed her eyes and sighed. She felt his body stiffen slightly, and she looked at him. "Eddie?"
"Yeah, baby?"
"Do you love me?"
His head jerked, and he looked at her. For a moment his face twisted in a frown; then he smiled and put the cigarette to his mouth and inhaled deeply. As he let the smoke out in a thin trail, he said, "Sure, baby. Sure."
The words were what she wanted to hear, and she ignored the peculiar expression that puzzled her. She smiled and stretched up to kiss his cheek. He dragged on the cigarette again, then crushed the butt in the tray and deposited it on the table. He rolled and looked at her. "What do you say we take a shower?" He kissed her hard on the mouth before she had a chance to answer, then slapped her rump playfully and rolled to the edge of the bed and sat up. "Come on, baby."
He got up, padded naked across the room and pulled open the bathroom door. She enjoyed the sight of his tight buttocks as he walked, and quite suddenly she knew that his invitation to shower would be very interesting. She moved off the bed and felt the instant flow that dribbled from her cunt. She grabbed a tissue and held it between her legs as she walked after him.
He had the water running already. She mopped at her thighs and vagina and disposed of the tissue as he turned to her with a wide grin.
"Come on in, the water's fine," he said with a mock leer. He stepped to the back of the shower stall and held out his arms to her in invitation as the water cascaded over his nude length.
Joyce felt the stirring pressure and tingling in her belly. She stepped into the glass enclosure and pulled the door shut behind her. His arms were around her at once, pulling her close and pressing his body to hers. She felt the warm water splash on her flesh, soothe it while his body heated the front of her. His crotch was at hers, pressing and moving insistently to rouse both of them. His mouth was hungry and eager on hers, crushing her lips, exploring her tongue. She closed her eyes and gave herself to him. His hands were wild on her flesh, rubbing, pressing, prying. He had her buttocks in his palms and he was lifting and pulling them apart at the same time. The sensation was exciting, and she felt her breath come faster in his mouth. And all the time the water poured down her back.
He was leaning against the tile wall of the shower stall, and her weight pinned him there. He didn't object, and he used his hands to hold her body even closer to him. His cock was getting harder, and she could feel it try to rise against her pubic hair. When he finally let go of her mouth, her breath escaped in a huge, fluttering sigh that was tinged heavily with excitement. He grinned at her and let go of her ass and pushed her to stand up straight. He reached for the bar of soap in the wall holder.
She stood hypnotized by the excitement that had begun to grow in her. She watched him lather his hands with the soap. He reached for her body, rubbed his foamy hand over her shoulders, then worked his way down. She sighed as he foamed her tits, covering them completely as he rubbed briskly and squeezed hard. He concentrated on the nipples until they popped out of the white suds like rubies on snow. He was watching his busy hands, and his eyes mirrored his pleasure. Her body delighted him, and it excited her to know it.
The spray still splashed on her back, but he merely squinted at the drops that ricocheted from her and into his face. He moved his lathering hands down across her flat belly until it too was covered with white foam. Then, with a sudden motion, he was between her legs. His wet, slippery fingers scoured at the lips of her vagina, searching their length and depth with the cleaning suds. He pinched at her labia and she squirmed. He poked fingers between the curtains of her cunt, and she sucked in her breath and stepped back involuntarily. The water caught her and flowed over her head. She squinted to keep it out of her eyes but did not move. The fingers were inside her now. She felt the sting of the soap as it burned her tender tissues slightly, but the feeling was somehow exciting at the same time it was painful. After a moment it didn't matter any more. Her cunt began to juice up with its own secretions, and the stinging vanished. All she felt was the new heat rising.
Eddie knew exactly what he was doing to her. He grinned and worked his fingers harder inside her. She began to move up and down with his hand, impaling herself on the fingers with each thrust. Her hair was wet and dripping on her shoulders now, and water streamed over her face. She smiled.
Eddie held out his hand with the bar of soap. "Here, your turn."
She came back to reality with a start and took the soap from him. When she didn't move right away, he grinned and glanced down at his own slick, wet body, then at the soap again. She knew what he wanted. She was to lather him the way he had her. She rubbed the soap on her palms and then, using one at a time, rubbed the palms over his shoulders ... chest ... belly. The dark length of his penis bounced away from his body and up toward her. She cupped one hand around it, then the other. She rubbed the soap gently over the full length of the glorious organ. She nibbled at her lip as she saw the beautiful instrument grow, and felt the sensation of pressure in her hands as it swelled and filled them. The soap slipped from her hand and fell to the tile floor. She was too busy to retrieve it then. She worked her filmy hands back and forth on the length of the swollen shaft, spending extra time at the end where the head now mushroomed from the column. She used her finger to soap under the taut layers of foreskin that surrounded the base of the head, to work suds along the thin band of skin that formed the cord holding the two parts together. The incredibly glossy, smooth head did not want to hold lather, and she reworked it time and time again until it was speckled with foam. She smiled, and he pressed the cock hard into her tight fist.
"That's nice, baby. Do it some more."
She smiled again and resumed the beat she'd started on his organ. It was slippery and wonderful, very exciting as she watched her progress. All the time his hands were on her, coaxing her to fire so the beat never died. He probed between her legs again, scoring his fingers with their coating of suds into her cunt. He worked his fingers into the wet, pulpy walls and forced her body to secrete more juices to warm him. He found her clitoris and used his fingers to chew at it. His other hand found a tit and tweaked the nipple until she moaned with delight.
He was hard and ready now, and yet she knew he would not come. She looked at his face and saw the pleasure there. He grinned and withdrew his hands and placed them on her hips. With a sure motion he turned her around and faced her into the corner of the shower stall. She was trembling, mostly in anticipation of what was to come. Her quivering body told her he had some new pleasure in store for her.
He pushed her forward so she was bent and her head bowed. She breathed through her mouth as the water dribbled across her nose and down her chin. His hands went to her hips, across her buttocks, between her legs. She felt him arch toward her, the hard cock leading the way to the moist haven between her legs. She could also feel his hands, searching, guiding, finally inserting the tip of his prick in the layered flesh that guarded her cunt. It slipped, and he pulled back and started again. Each time his flesh moved across hers, she moaned softly at the delightful waves of pleasure it set off. On the third try, his cock caught in her, and he jammed it upward. She gasped. "Ooooohhhh!! "
"Uuuuummmm!" His own pleasure answered her.
She braced herself against the slick tiles as he rammed the swollen column of flesh into her. Coming up at her from the back that way created a very hard pressure in her cunt. It felt as if he were pressing right through the thick, muscular wall. She moaned and whimpered, unable to speak or be coherent. She pressed her bowed head on her hands which were braced in the corner and let him delight her body. He began to fuck in and out of the soaped cunt. She was wild as the hot flames devoured her. The pressure was like a boiler about to explode. She tried to tell him but no words came from her lips. They moved soundlessly and dripped with the water that still ran from her hair and head.
She felt the thrust that triggered her climax. It was a bolt of lightning, a huge electrical charge that zapped through her entire torso. Her knees went weak and she let all her weight rest on the hands in front of her. He slammed his cock into her and she cried out as the orgasm gripped her and shook her body. It was sensational, wilder than anything she had ever experienced. The live currents spread through her, radiating new heat as they spread, delighting every ounce of her flesh. He gripped her hips tightly and forced his body in and out of her, and she felt the light slap of his wet balls below the shafting cock. She whimpered and wept into her hands, unable to hold back the huge flood of release that engulfed her. Her mind, as well as her body, was filled with the pleasure.
It was a long time before he slowed his action in her and before she came to again. She was dazed, breathing hard, still trembling. He withdrew his cock, and she felt the hard, long organ slip out of her warm hole. He was still hard. He had not come. She absorbed the fact dazedly. His hands were still on her hips, and one of them moved away. She was still thinking about this when she felt the new probe along the crack of her ass. The smooth, wet tip of his prick was sliding up and down along the crevice and pressing into the tight, warm space between her mounded buttocks. She smiled and concentrated on enjoying the still-quivering delight of her previous climax.
She was startled when she felt the hard probe at her ass-hole. She lifted her head, but a quick movement of his hand prevented her from raising her body.
"Stay there," he said.
"Ohhh!! " The hard probe forced at the tight sphincter of her ass-hole. She winced with pain.
"Relax, baby. Take a deep breath..."
She put her head back on her hands and opened her mouth wide to breath in. In that instant, he shoved at the muscle and forced it open.
"Ooooohhhh!! ! "
"Relax, baby, relax..." He shoved deeper and harder. The soap that was still on his flesh burned at her dry hole. She gasped with pain, then felt the small spurt of his lubricating fluid warm her. She breathed deeply through her mouth, and he shoved it all the way in. She choked for breath as the warmth engulfed her.
It was an inner warmth, a hot flood of her own desire and need. Her mind boggled. She had no idea how this entry could excite her so wildly, but she accepted the fact that it did. Her body tensed and was swamped with lust. She felt as though she would burst. The pressure of his thrusting cock and the pressure of her own belly met and swelled to a roar. She groaned and gasped.
"Fuck me!" she screamed over the steady roar of the water pouring over them. He gripped her hips and held her still as he jammed his body into her. She was crying steadily now-not with pain but with pleasure. It swelled in her, filled her flesh, beat at her skin in its attempt to escape from the prison in which it was held tight. She screamed as the volcano erupted and her body became a swirling pool of molten lava. She passed into another dimension, one in which there was no time or space. It was a dimension of fulfilled lust, a dimension of solid pleasure. Pain, pressure, violent orgasm-huge, sweeping waves of each consumed her. When they finally ebbed, she was weak and helpless and whimpering. He slipped his arm around her waist and turned her back to the tiles. She leaned against them, gasping and panting.
He grinned at her and propped her in the corner. He took the washcloth from the hook behind them and resoaped her body, then his own. He scrubbed with the cloth at his genitals, lifting his cock and balls high to get under them. She noticed with dimmed vision that he was still hard. When they were both thoroughly lathered again, he pulled her from the corner and under the spraying water. His hands rinsed her, worked between her legs, held her up. When she was free of foam, he braced her in the corner again and smiled at her. She returned the smile weakly.
He raised his face to the downpour and lifted his arms, first one, then the other, to rinse himself. He worked carefully at his crotch until the dark and curly hairs were once again free of clinging soap bubbles. Then he turned off the faucets and opened the door. He stepped out onto the furry rug and grabbed a towel from the rack. He reached a hand in for her to grab, and helped her out of the stall.
"Oh ... Eddie..." She could hardly stand, and the afterwaves of delight still rocketed through her.
He grinned. "You like that, baby?"
"Uuuummm, yes. It was ... wonderful." She smiled and held her face up for his pursed lips. He kissed her, then wrapped the towel on her body and began to dry her. Each stroke brought undulating waves of erotic pleasure. She could not turn them off ... She did not want to...
He toweled between her legs, pressing harder than really necessary. She stood with feet spread and let him do whatever he wanted. She reached for another towel and began to dry him, running her covered hand over the wondrous flesh that brought her such pleasure. He let the towel he was holding fall from his hand as he spread his legs wide. She clutched at his damp balls, and the prick slapped at her arm. It was still deliciously hard. She closed her hand around it and realized she too had dropped the towel.
"Christ!" he said softly. He angled his hips, and the cock speared from his crotch. She took it in her fist and pumped at it with rapid-fire strokes. He sucked air into his lungs.
He licked his lips, got his arms around her. The cock was a hot poker at her belly. He forced her back and down, and she let him put her on the floor. The furry bathmat was silky on her damp skin. He came down over her, and she spread her legs for him. He guided the prick into the velvety red layers of sexy flesh, jabbed it into her cunt.
"Aaaaahhhh!! " It was a cry of need and lust. His face twisted in a grimace as the wet, warm walls of her vagina clamped around his cock and sucked it in. He began to move back and forth in her with a steady stroke.
To her surprise, she came alive instantly. The need and desire bubbled up in quick response to his entry. The previous orgasms had left her ripe and ready for additional pleasure. She clamped her legs around him, rubbing her feet on his naked ass and thighs, whimpering softly as he strained and humped at her. His teeth were clenched with the powerhouse of his energy. He slammed the hot shaft into the hugging tunnel, and her muscles tried to tighten around it. There was only an instant of warning-a sudden, hard pressure in her cunt as his cock filled to the breaking point and bellowed in her hot tissues.
"Ahhhh!" She opened her eyes wide and nodded her head.
He was beyond caring. His ejaculation came in a rushing roar of floodwaters. The hot, sticky wad spilled out, gushing and rushing into her. He slammed his body at the hole that held him, and his breath faltered and gasped from his throat. It was almost a growl.
Joyce clung to him and soared to new heights on the thick wave of orgasm. Her own climax was instantaneous, a burst of hot fire inside her to meet his. The tile beneath the furry rug was hard on her spine and head, but the delight outshadowed and outshone any other physical sensations. She whimpered and held onto him, trying to contain her pleasure. His bucking slowed, and with a few last thrusts he was done. She could feel him go limp inside her. He breathed deeply and pushed himself off her, forcing her to let go as he jerked his body away.
In a daze, she watched him get up. He stepped back into the shower stall and closed the door behind him. The water came on, and through the frosted glass she saw him stand under the spray with his face lifted to it. A few seconds later he was scrubbing his belly and crotch again.
She got up and sat on the toilet to let his newest load of semen drip from her cunt. She was still shivering with the sensuous delights of her flesh. When she got up, she took a washcloth and wrung it out and soaped it. When she was done cleaning herself, he emerged from the stall. He picked up one of the towels from the floor.
"Man, what a fuck session. I'm beat!" He grinned at her as she retrieved the other towel and dried herself. "You like it, baby?"
"Urn, oh Eddie, you're so good to me." She shook her head and turned to hang up the towel.
"Hell, it's nothing. You're a pretty hot piece of ass and screwing you does wild things to me." He slapped her ass with a flat palm. "Come on, let's get some coffee." He moved past her and out of the bathroom.
She followed. "I haven't had anything to eat. I'm starved," she said.
"Why don't you fix us some eggs and stuff? I'm hungry, too. I only had some of that ham in the fridge for breakfast." He spoke as casually as if he had lived there all his life. He started to dress.
Joyce went to the closet and pulled out a cotton shift and slipped into it. She tied an apron around her waist and began to fix the food. In a few minutes, she had everything ready, and he came to the table.
When they had finished eating and were enjoying their coffee, he leaned back in his chair and looked at her.
"What's the matter?" she asked.
"Nothing, baby, nothing at all."
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
He shrugged. "Just thinking how nice it would be to wake up to a deal like this every day."
She felt herself blush, and she couldn't meet his stare. She hadn't dared hope...
He sighed heavily. "Too bad we can't do it."
Her head jerked up sharply. "What-"
He shrugged and smiled sadly. "Have you forgotten Big Mike? In a week I'm a dead man if I don't have that dough."
"Oh, Eddie!"
He made a wry face. "I think my best bet is to blow town. The more miles I put between me and Mike Tully, the better off I am."
"You can't go!" She leaned forward and reached across the table for his hand. "Please..."
"Baby, Mike don't like live welchers around to remind him of bad investments. Either I pay or I go-no other way. I don't have any hankering to wind up at the bottom of the river with my feet in cement."
"He wouldn't..."
Eddie laughed harshly. "You're cute, baby, but not too bright. Big Mike invented the unidentified corpse. And you'd better remember it if you ever think about telling the fuzz about the little episode last night at his place. He might forget his weak spot for dames."
She stared at him. She had to believe him. She was frightened. "If you go, let me go with you," she said in a rush of words.
He shook his head. "I travel faster alone. And I'd have to be fast to stay ahead of Mike."
Her heart fell and her mouth went dry. She had just found him, and already she was going to lose him. She couldn't bear it. She sat looking at him as tears welled behind her lids.
She jumped up. "Eddie!"
"Yeah?"
"You don't have to go if I can get the money for you!"
He cocked his head and looked at her through narrowed eyes. "What are you saying, baby?"
"I can still try to borrow the money at work-like I told you yesterday. That's what we had planned before all this..." She broke off, unable to find words to describe the past night of madness.
He sat up and pursed his lips. "Yeah ... mebbe..."
"Oh, Eddie, of course we can." She moved around the table and knelt near his chair, putting her arms around his waist. "I can get the money. Then you'll be safe. We'll be together."
"Hmmmm. Suppose you can't get the loan?"
"Then I'll find some other way to get the money." She refused to consider failure. Not when having Eddie was at stake. She would not lose him.
He looked at her a long time. "Yeah, I think maybe you would at that."
She nodded and smiled. He leaned forward and let his lips brush across hers briefly. She felt secure again.
Eddie pulled her up and got to his feet. "Why don't you get dressed and go to the office now. It's not even noon yet. You could ask about the money..."
She glanced at the wall clock. She saw it was quarter past eleven. She had forgotten all about the office! Mr. Hopkins would be furious because she hadn't shown for work or called!
"Oh, my boss is going to be wild!" She ran to the closet and found a suit and blouse.
"Don't worry, baby," Eddie declared from the bed where he had flopped and was lighting a cigarette. "I told Anita to cover for you. It'll be okay."
She looked at him in surprise. "When?"
"Last night. I stopped there on my way over here when I left Mike's." He said it as casually as though commenting on the weather.
Joyce looked at him and frowned. He had arranged a cover story for her boss because he knew she would not get to work this morning. It seemed a strange action. Had it been motivated by his concern for her? Or had he wanted to secure her job as insurance for his own safety? If the deal with Big Mike fell through, he could still use her another way?
She bit her lip and pushed the doubts from her mind. She would not think about that. Nothing mattered except that she had Eddie back again. She did not want to lose him.
She pulled open the dresser and got out clean underwear and stockings. "I'll be ready in a couple of minutes," she said with a smile.
14
She rode the bus downtown and hurried the three blocks to the office. She was nervous-about being late and about asking for the loan. Who would she see? Mr. Slater in personnel, she decided. He had some imagine title about employee relations, or such. He'd be the logical one to ask. If he didn't handle it himself, he would know who did.
She got a few curious stares as she unlocked her desk and got her work out. She phoned Mr. Slater's office and found he was still at lunch. She busied herself with the things she should have done first thing this morning. She kept glancing at the clock nervously.
At one o'clock, Anita poked her head into the large room where Joyce worked. On seeing her, Anita hurried across the room and leaned over the desk.
"Hi, kid. I told Hoppy you were feeling lousy this morning. He growled, but what could he say?" Anita leaned back and studied the other girl. "You look great. Everything go all right?"
Joyce blushed and nodded. "Sure. Fine. I have to catch up..."
"Huh? Oh, sure. I gotta get back to my desk, too. See you later." Anita left and went down the hall to the section where she worked. Joyce glanced at the clock again.
She tried the phone, but Slater hadn't returned. It was almost two by the time his annoyed secretary admitted that he had returned and was at his desk.
Joyce laid a paperweight on the sheets on her desk and went into the hall. Slater's office was on the fifth floor, and when she got off the elevator, she felt the familiar panic engulf her. She took a deep breath and went into his office. After a few minutes' wait, the secretary showed her into the man's private room.
She sat across from him and folded and refolded her hands in her lap.
"Well now, Miss ... ah ... Howard. How can I help you?"
Joyce swallowed the lump in her throat. "I ... I wondered if-that is-I would like to borrow some money."
He didn't answer right away, and his silence flustered her even more. His small eyes behind the huge glasses were magnified so they looked as if he were staring at her intently. He tented his fingers and peered at her over them.
"A loan?"
"Yes, sir."
He leaned forward slowly and rested his arms on the desk. "Hmm, I see. May I ask how big a loan you require?"
She took a deep breath. "Five hundred dollars." The words came out very small and weak.
The room was silent for what seemed like a long time. Joyce heard the pounding of her pulse in her ears. It was so loud, it seemed that the man across the desk must hear it, too. She thought of Eddie. She was doing it for Eddie. She had to get the money. She waited.
"That's quite a sum, Miss Howard."
"Yes, sir."
"We are not a bank."
"Yes, sir. I thought, that is, someone told me the company often makes loans to employees..." Her voice drifted off as his stare held her.
"Hmmm, yes, indeed. But small loans-the kind that can be readily covered in a few paydays by deductions." He dipped his head and peered upward at her over the rims of his glasses. "You understand. This is merely a matter of convenience for our people. We like to think of ourselves as one big, happy family." His voice rose to a note of inflection that made it sound as if he thought she might not understand.
Joyce was embarrassed and mute. She knew he was putting her off but lacked the courage to simply say "no". She thought about getting up and leaving, but she couldn't. She stared at her hands in her lap and waited. She thought about Eddie. It was for Eddie.
He finally cleared his throat, and she looked up. "Unless..." He almost smiled but didn't quite make it. His glance moved down over her, and she struggled to sit still. "Unless Mr. Jarrett might consider..."
When he didn't finish, she prompted him. "Mr. Jarrett?"
He sat up and looked very officious. "Yes. He's the head of the entire department here." He looked not at all pleased at the thought, but pursed his lips and continued. "If you'd like to talk to him, I can arrange it. But I'm afraid there's nothing
I can do to help you." He spread his hands, then laid them palms down on the desk quickly. "I doubt that he will-well, that's not for me to say." He picked up the telephone and after a moment said, "Miss Phillips, will you ask Mr. Jarrett if Miss ... ah ... um ... Howard can see him for a few minutes?" He hung up and smiled at her. It made Joyce think of a cat playing with a string. It also made her angry, but she swallowed her pride and returned the smile wanly.
"Miss Phillips will show you his office." He picked up a folder and glanced at it, signifying the interview was over.
Joyce got up. "Thank you, Mr. Slater," she murmured. He grunted without looking up. She let herself out of the office. Her heart was pounding heavily. The man had been downright rude, and she was very uncomfortable. She wished she had not come to see him! And now the secretary was already indicating another office for her.
"Mr. Jarrett will see you now," she said, pointing to a door at the opposite side of the reception room.
Numbly Joyce walked across the thick carpet and opened the door. The office was even more sumptuous than Slater's. Blue-green carpeting was a cushion under her feet. Soft lighting and comfortable dark furniture gave the room a pleasant atmosphere.
The man behind the desk was young and nice-looking. It startled her. She had been expecting a carbon copy or worse of the man she'd just left. Mr. Jarrett smiled warmly at her.
"Won't you sit down, Miss Howard." He got to his feet and waited for her to take a chair before he sat again himself. He smiled again. "How can I help you?"
Joyce was amazed at how easily she could talk to him. She told him about the loan she wanted and added what Slater had said about it being too much for him to handle. If Jarrett shared Slater's opinions, he did not show it.
His warm brown eyes were encouraging. "Well, it may not be all that impossible," he said with a smile. "I'm glad Slater sent you in to see me." He opened a drawer of the desk and took out a form. He glanced at it briefly and laid it on the desk before him. Joyce watched him with interest. She wasn't sure what it was about him or his looks that made him seem so likable. He seemed to care, to take a genuine interest in her problem. Unlike Slater, he did not appear worried about the money itself.
And not like Eddie either, she thought. The memory of Eddie's insistent pushing about the money rang in her ears. Eddie put the money first, her second. She pushed the thought away and concentrated on what the man was saying now.
"...this form. We need the information for the records, of course. Why don't you take it home with you tonight and do it at your leisure? I'll process it through the right channels first thing in the morning for you and see how we do." He smiled, and she found herself nodding and holding her hand out to accept the paper.
He sat back. "I'm not guaranteeing anything, of course, but I think we can help. How long have you been with us, Miss Howard?"
"Almost a year."
"Yes, well that's good. I'm sure your work record will show you're dependable as well as pretty."
She blushed at the unexpected compliment and looked at him, but there was no mockery in his eyes. The compliment had been genuine. She felt very pleased.
"There is space on the form where you're asked the purpose of the loan." His eyes found hers. "You may write 'personal' if you care to."
Her breath fluttered from her lips. He was being kind, but it made her think again of Eddie and how different he was from this man. She nodded and folded the paper in half as she got up. "Thank you very much," she said warmly. "Thank you, Mr. Jarrett."
He got to his feet and walked around the desk. "You're welcome, Miss Howard. If you want to leave the papers with my secretary when you come in tomorrow, I'll see to them personally." The warm smile flashed again, and he opened the door and held it for her. She walked out somewhat dazed.
Back at her own desk, she put the paper in her purse without looking at it. It was hard to concentrate on her work the rest of the afternoon, and she was glad when it was five and she could close up her desk and leave. Anita met her at the elevator.
"Hey, Steve called and he's picking me up. Wanna ride home?" Anita peered at her face in the small mirror of her compact and rubbed a finger at the corner of her mouth to wipe off a smear of red lipstick. She snapped the compact closed and dropped it in her purse as the elevator opened in front of them. In the crowd, she joked with a young man Joyce knew vaguely from seeing him in the accounting department. She didn't bother to ask Joyce again for an answer about the ride.
Joyce moved out with the crowd on the ground floor. She didn't look around for Anita, but after a few feet the other girl caught up to her and steered her toward the corner when they got outside. Steve's car was at the yellow curb blocking the crosswalk. Anita opened the front door and climbed in beside him, leaving Joyce to get in back.
To her surprise, Eddie was sitting in the far corner of the seat, grinning at her. She hadn't seen him until she got the door open and was climbing in. He had made no move to open the door for her, or even to greet her. Now he slouched against the back and said, "Hi, doll, how'd it go?"
He might have been asking about her afternoon, but Joyce knew too well that he was referring to the money. He took her for granted and didn't waste breath on asking foolish questions.
She tried a smile. "Okay, I guess."
He sat up then and leaned forward. "You guess? Didn't you get it?" A scowl creased his brow. He looked angry.
Joyce sat back and pulled the door shut just as Steve swung the car out into the traffic. There was a squeal of brakes as he cut in front of a Jaguar.
It gave Joyce a moment to collect herself and ready her answer. "I have to fill out an application form. Mr. Jarrett said he would process it first thing in the morning."
Eddie's eyes were veiled with suspicion. He did not like the idea, she could tell. He swore softly and glared out the window at the passing traffic.
Joyce was confused. His anger was so senseless. He had a week to produce the money for Big Mike. What difference did one day make now? He was in such a hurry. About many things, she thought.
When he finally looked back at her, his face was less clouded, but his smile was forced, "That's great baby. Just great."
She smiled and touched his thigh. He looked at her for several seconds before he put his hand over hers. "You'll get it tomorrow for me, I know you will, baby." He lifted her hand and put it over the bulge of his crotch.
The mound was warm and soft under her palm. She felt a shiver race through her. All her doubts vanished, and she was consumed by her need for him, his warmth and love. She laid her head on his shoulder and let him slip his arm around her. She sighed.
Steve stopped the car in front of Anita's apartment. "Why don't you kids come up with us?" Anita asked, turning in the front seat to look at Joyce. "I got some frozen TV dinners we can put in the oven. We can relax and..." She let the sentence hang.
"Sure." Eddie answered for both of them, and he already had the door open on his side. He climbed out and didn't bother to help Joyce. He stood on the sidewalk and let her slam the door herself.
Anita was halfway up the steps and Steve was locking the car. Eddie shoved his hands in his pockets and whistled softly as he followed Anita into the building and upstairs to her third-floor apartment. Inside, he flopped into one of the easy chairs and flicked on the radio standing on the table. He believed in making himself at home. Steve stretched on the sofa and balanced an ash tray on his belly as he lit a cigarette. Neither of them made a move to help.
Joyce went into the tiny kitchenette. "Can I give you a hand, Anita?"
"Huh? Oh, sure, get out the ice cubes."
Joyce pulled the tray from the refrigerator freezer and set it on the drain board of the sink while she pried the cubes loose from their bed of frost. Anita was pouring whiskey into four glasses.
"What do you want for a mix, honey?" Anita asked her.
"What? Oh, Coke, I guess." Joyce had been moving in a daze, not thinking about what was going on. She didn't really want a drink, but there was no sense making an issue of it. Anita poured the glass and slipped in ice.
Anita handed her one and said, "That's for Eddie. Here's yours." She gave her a second glass. She hadn't needed to ask Eddie what he drank for a mix, Joyce noted.
In the living room the men sat up with interest as the drinks came. Anita sat on the couch next to Steve, and Joyce started for a small chair against the wall.
Eddie stopped her with his voice. "Over here, baby." He patted his lap.
Joyce glanced at the other couple, but they didn't seem to think anything was out of the ordinary. Anita was already nuzzling up to Steve, her free hand roaming his chest and trying to get inside his shirt. Joyce looked away quickly. Eddie held his hand out and pulled her down. Her drink sloshed on her hand and skirt. Eddie ignored her sound of protest. He slipped his arm around her waist and hugged her so he could plant a wet kiss on her neck. "Miss me, baby?" He lifted his hips so his crotch was pressed against the soft flesh of her thigh. She could feel his breath on her neck. Then he moved and kissed her hard on the mouth, forgetting the drink she held and the one in his own hand. The kiss was warm, hot. His breath tasted unmistakably of whiskey, and he had not yet touched his drink. He had begun somewhere else...
The thought was quickly banished as he put more fire into the kiss and tongued his way into her mouth. She made a small sound of confusion, not sure if she wanted to protest or if her own heat was already growing in response to his. From the corner of her vision she saw him put his drink on the table. The freed hand went at once to her breast, grabbing it eagerly, mashing at the trapped flesh under her blouse and underwear. It jerked at the bottom of the blouse, pulled it free of the skirt band and quickly darted under it. She felt the tug of impatience as he encountered her slip. He groped for bare flesh. He could not get past the barrier of the nylon that was tight around her bosom. His fingers dug momentarily at the top edge of the slip, and for one moment Joyce thought he was going to rip the cloth from her. But the hand retreated, pulled out quickly and darted instead under her skirt.
He crammed his fingers against her crotch, squeezing and digging through the walls of the panty hose and briefs. She thought of that first night in the car. He had done the same thing then. And like then, she felt the warm sting of her body fluids as her excitement grew.
A soft laugh pulled her back to the reality of the present. She remembered the couple on the couch. She struggled away from Eddie's lips and tried to remove his hand from her cunt.
"Eddie! Not here!"
"Why not, baby?" he whispered hoarsely at her ear as he attempted to capture her mouth again in a kiss.
"Eddie! We're not alone!" She pushed at him.
His hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. His fingers were like iron on her flesh. He twisted slightly, and she yelped with pain. "So what, baby?" he asked with a leer. "We're having a party-the more the merrier." He looked past her. "Izzat right, Steve?"
"Huh? Oh sure, sure."
"So drink your drink, baby," Eddie said with a grin. "And then we can get down to the fucking."
Joyce stared at him. He used his hand to raise her glass to her lips, and she drank rather than let the liquor spill down her chin. She had to gulp quickly to keep up with the flow as he tilted the glass. He laughed harshly. "That's better." He nodded. "That's better."
Tears stung Joyce's eyes as the strong drink burned into her stomach. He dropped his hand to her lap and began to feel her crotch through her clothes. She shook her head, but a heavy thickness clogged her throat. She had drunk the whiskey too fast. And Anita had mixed it much too strong. She blinked. Eddie let go of her wrist and picked up his drink. "Here, have another..." he said, putting it to her lips again. "You need to catch up. Need to relax. Gotta enjoy yourself..."
He watched her down the drink, then held the empty glass out toward Anita. "How about some refills before you get too busy fucking over there?" he asked with a laugh.
Joyce turned and saw Anita, stark naked, rise from the couch and pad toward him with a grin. Her big boobs bounced and swayed with each step. Her crotch was a dark triangle that drew Eddie's eyes. She took the glass and let his hand slide down her length and brush the tempting triangle lightly.
"Man," he said. It was almost a breath. "What cunt. What a night this is going to be!" He turned and looked at Joyce. "Let's get these goddamn clothes off." He pushed her from his lap, and she stumbled to her feet.
In a daze she began to undress. Anita came back with the drinks, giggling and rubbing her naked flesh against Eddie as she set them down.
He said, "Keee-rist!"
Across the room, Steve laughed. Joyce looked at him. He was naked, too, his big cock jutting with a hard-on already. "Let's get going, you guys-I'm ready and willing!" He held his arms out.
Joyce dropped her bra and began skimming down her panties. Eddie slapped her ass as she bent over to step out of the briefs. Joyce almost tumbled forward but caught the edge of the chair in time to prevent it. She stayed where she was-bent over, ass upraised.
"Hey, lookit-she wants it real bitch style!! " Eddie swung himself behind her and pressed his naked body against her ass.
Joyce felt the hot, wet dribble of his cock as it moved on her buttocks. She gripped the chair cushion and laid her head on it. She giggled and let her breath out in a long sigh.
15
Eddie knelt behind her and ran his hands under her body so he could grab her tits. One in each hand, he mashed and milked them eagerly. Joyce simpered and giggled again. She was dizzy, and it felt good to close her eyes and lay her head on the cushion. Eddie was so warm and nice against her. She was safe again. Eddie loved her. She sighed.
"Shove it up her," Steve said with a laugh from across the room. He had Anita on his lap, facing him, her legs straddling his hips and her hot little cunt already wrapped around his cock. His hard-on was aching for the special brand of loving she gave him. She rocked back and forth on him, scraping her pubic hair on his, rubbing her clitoris onto the hidden bulge of his flesh. She excited herself and him at the same time. Her big bobbing tits flashed in front of him, and with every few strokes she curved her body toward him so they slapped on his chest. He grinned and tried to grab them. He forgot about the other two on the floor across the room. Eddie was still trying to mount the chick dog-style.
Eddie had been drinking steadily all afternoon. He and Steve had spent the time in Anita's apartment, downing the bottle Eddie bought with the money he'd found in Joyce's dresser after she left. It was a celebration. They were still celebrating Eddie's release from prison, and now the newer cause of his almost-sure release from the bondage of his debt to Mike Tully. Christ! He'd never get into that shark again for dough. He'd find some place else to put his bets on the ponies. Big Mike wasn't the only bookie in town. He was only the toughest. And Eddie had played too fast-way too fast. He'd run up a tab of five hundred in less than a week. His couple of years in the joint hadn't sharpened his wits when it came to picking horses.
But he could still pick women! Christ, this little ass under him was a sweetheart-one with dough. Or at least she could lay her hands on what he needed. Man, he was going to fuck her sweet and long and make her beg for more. And tomorrow he would have enough money to get Big Mike off his back. He grabbed his cock and aimed it in the crevice of her ass. Mmmmmm, her body was warm and welcome. He grinned as he noticed her eyes were closed and a dreamy smile hung on her lips. She was going to love this. He bent his hips and reached between her legs, probing with his fingers for the hole of her cunt. He found the thick, moist lips of her vulva in their hairy covering and separated them with an easy jab into her. She moaned and wiggled her ass, moving her legs further apart to make his work easier. He grinned again and shafted the hot, stabbing javelin of his penis up toward his hand, into the wet, curtained doorway his fingers held open.
Joyce whimpered with delight. He was so warm and wonderful. She felt his naked flesh rub on her rump, and she pressed her body up to him. His hand went between her legs, and she gasped as his fingers worked their way into the pulpy wetness of her vagina. Oh, it excited her so quickly to have him fondle her this way. His fingers were eager and steady working on her erotic flesh, prying and pulling the heavy folds apart and rubbing the wet tissues until she was dripping with new moisture. Her belly rumbled and tightened as he tickled inside her. Ohhhh ... she wanted him.
He moved and her heat grew. His prick blazed a hot, wet trail in the crevice of her ass, poked invitingly. She wanted to tell him to hurry, to make violent love to her, to take her-now. She was shivering with the hot need for him. Her head was heavy and buzzing. She could taste the tart flavor of the whiskey ... She shouldn't have drunk it ... She wasn't used to liquor ... The black void was lovely because Eddie was there with her.
She felt his hand at her cunt, and she groaned softly. Yes ... yes ... Her mind cried her body's need silently. She wanted him. She wanted to be loved...
His hard cock came up between his fingers and entered her. She gasped and tensed her body an instant, then relaxed. Eddie grabbed her hips and forced her down hard onto him. It was like a huge, flaming torch being shoved up inside her. And the torch set off new fires in her belly. She began to hump back and forth on his body. She liked the feel of his entering her this way. His cock pressed hard against the front wall of her cunt, poking it outward with each thrust, delighting her and making her shiver.
She reached a warm and wonderful orgasm, burrowed her face into the rough tweed of the chair cushion and cried with soft delight. Ummmm, she felt so good. Sooooo gooood...
"Oh baby, that's hot and nice, real good. Yeah..." Eddie slammed his hips to her ass, speared his prick all the way into her. His hands were hot and hard on her tits, and he pulled her close each time he thrust up and in. He lay atop her curved body, feeling her flesh on his naked flesh, rubbing himself on her sensuously. "Yeeeaaahhh!! ! " He had not come. The long day of drinking had left him willing but weak. Booze had that effect on him. He could get it hard, but it took him a hell of a long time to come. No matter, he liked fucking as much as he liked the end results. Besides, he and Steve had already talked about some four-way games on the bed with these two broads. Anita was a hot piece of ass, he knew both from what Steve told him and from the romp she'd given him the one night the three of them had had a few drinks and a few laughs. Christ, for a little gal she sure had taken care of both of them until they were ready to drop. Now with Joyce in the game, too, they could go to it all night...
Anita rode herself to a hot orgasm on the jolting cock. She knew Steve and Eddie had been drinking, and she didn't care. She liked the idea actually. It made them both horny as hell but neither of them would come right off the fucking bat. It meant a nice, long session for her ... and Joyce. Cripes, what a dud old Joyce was turning out to be. That night at the drive-in she'd acted like a goddamn virgin in a convent! Well, Eddie had gotten into her pants; he'd bragged about it the next day. She grinned at Steve as he lay with his head flopped back on the sofa, his mouth open and breathing hard as his excitement built. If Eddie could keep her fires going, they might have some real fun. It had been too long since she'd taken part in a swap party. It would be fun ... and she'd have one hell of a good time! She slammed her cunt up to Steve and he moaned out loud.
"Christ, holy shit! You're gonna screw that damn thing right off me!" Steve said with a grin as he opened his eyes to look at her with a glazed expression. It felt as if his whole body was being sucked up inside her hot pussy. In the seven months he'd known Anita, he'd never gotten tired of the sweet fucking hole she gave him at the drop of a panty! God, she was a horny broad-something real special. She liked her screwing wild and with plenty of variety. She was game for anything-doubles, swaps, experiments. She was his kind of woman!! Ooooo, Christ, he was hard! He watched the beautiful big tits bounce in front of his face. For a small dame, she had the biggest knockers he'd ever seen. Uncovered like this, they looked like huge melons with red stems popping from their tops. He wished he could suck one while she rode him, but her body was in high gear, slamming back and forth on him like a trip hammer. There was no way to grab her tits without slowing her down, and that was the last fucking thing he wanted to do. He had to be content with looking at them. He grinned. That wasn't too hard to take. Her hips slammed at him again, and she let her head fall back and her mouth open. He felt the tight warning of her cunt and knew she was working up a climax.
She moaned, grunted animal sounds, then dug her fingers into Steve's shoulders and jammed her cunt hard onto the hot sword of his flesh. Her orgasm was an exploding boiler of steam, letting go with tremendous pressure and filling her with heat and wetness. She slapped her body to him, digging onto the cock with all the force she could manage. God, it was good! God, how she was coming!!
Joyce was still dazed from the violence of the orgasms she achieved with Eddie mounted behind her. Her whole body rippled and quivered with huge waves of tingling delight. Yet she was still warm-no, hot! Yes, she admitted to herself, she was hot, hot, hot!! She wanted more!! ! Just like last night when those strange men had taken their turns at her. She had enjoyed every minute of it!! She liked sex! She whimpered and smiled, her eyes still closed.
She felt Eddie move off her and slip his hands around her waist to pull her to her feet. She let him move her, cooperating enough to make his task easy but staying limp and letting him move her wherever he wanted. She opened her eyes, but the room was spinning too fast for her to see clearly. She closed them again and giggled. She wished he would hurry; she wanted to feel his hard, warm cock inside her-or taste it in her mouth...
She fell backward, limp and unyielding. She was on the bed. She burrowed like an animal into the comfortable nest. Hands were on her, touching her breasts, tweaking her nipples, making sharp rays of wonder radiate through her. She tried to say how much she liked it, but only a garbled sound came from her lips. The hands were between her legs-no-different hands. There were hands all over her. She frowned, eyes still closed, and tried to puzzle it out. Lips found her tit, sucked and lapped at it. She heard voices...
"Get down there and suck me, baby! I'm gonna eat this kid's cunt!! "
"MMMMMmmmm, sweetie, why doncha come in my mouth? Let me drink up your fuck juice, huh, Steve baby, please?"
"Christ almighty! Get down there and suck!! "
"Aaaaahhhh!! ! "
"Holy shit!"
The lips let go of her tit, and Joyce heard Eddie say, "Get your hands over here and grab my pecker while you eat him, Anita! Holy Christ, I'm hard!" The bed moved; bodies shifted. "Ahhh, yeah, that's goood! Oh, baby, jack me off!! " Eddie bent and grabbed the tit in his mouth again, and Joyce sighed and moaned at the same time.
She was on fire. He was sucking so hard the vacuum seemed to go all the way through her body-right down to her cunt where the other man's tongue was jabbing into her. The two mouths were driving her wild. She flung her arms out, searching for flesh to hold and enjoy. She found Eddie's ass, and he twisted to put it closer to her without losing the hand that held his prick. The four bodies were twined on the bed, so it was almost impossible to tell which limbs belonged to whom.
Joyce mauled at the mound of flesh she had encountered. She rubbed her palm over it, found the crevice between the buttocks, pushed her fingers into it. His body squirmed, and his tongue lashed at her tit. Between her legs, Steve drank her cunt juice greedily, his tongue lapping at the thick folds of erotic flesh and firing her to white fury. Joyce played in the warm crevice of Eddie's ass. Her finger touched the tight, puckered muscle of his ass-hole, and he made a sound that was muffled by his mouthful of her tit. But she knew he liked it. She pushed at the tiny spot, and his body jerked with pleasure. She giggled and poked harder. The muscle gave, and her fingertip pushed inside his anal opening. It was hot and dry, and she whimpered with delight as the touch excited her even more. Her whole body responded to the two men who were licking and lapping at her, and the fire grew more intense with the new heat of Eddie's flesh. He gasped against her wet tit, and she circled his ass-hole slowly with the fingertip.
In a blinding explosion, she orgasmed. It took her by surprise, but it took her completely. The constant tongue play at both ends of her body and the excitement of feeling the hot ass-hole had triggered her eruption, and now she undulated on the rocking waves that carried her to new heights of delight. The pleasure was all-consuming, all-filling. She lay with her mouth open and let the pleasure flow. "Ooooohhhh, mmmmm!! ! "
The room swirled again, and Joyce could no longer hold on to the small amount of reality that surrounded her. She gave herself completely to the velvety, lush fog, sinking into it and letting her body take over. The sexual pleasure was there to be enjoyed. She did not have to struggle, and she did not want to. She shut off her mind and entered the world of flesh.
It was a thrilling world, but hazy and swift. Hands ... mouths ... bodies ... hard male cocks ... She opened her mouth and received an offering of flesh-hard, throbbing male flesh. She sucked hard and ran her tongue over all the lovely ridges and valleys. She licked the wet slime from every crevice. She lathered the prick with her saliva and felt it grow under her tongue and cheeks.
Something penetrated her cunt, something hard and wet ... She wanted to shout, but her mouth was too full, too busy!!
The cock in her mouth began to hit back and forth, fucking hard and furiously. She could hardly breathe ... but it didn't matter, nothing mattered but the heat and her fire...
The cock in her mouth pulled out suddenly, but it was too late-she had brought it to the boiling point, and it could no longer contain its load. Before Eddie could swing his body around and shove the thing up Anita's ass-hole, it went off like a rocket on the Fourth of July. His semen spurted out in a hard stream and gushed all over Joyce's face. Her mouth was still open from letting go of him, and some of the juice shot onto her tongue. Her eyes flew open in surprise, and she licked up the wad quickly and turned her head to try to catch more of it. Her hand in his ass stopped, and the other one came up to her face to feel the hot slime that covered it. She rubbed her fingers in it eagerly and licked them, capturing every bit of his come-juice she could find.
Joyce didn't know what had happened, but she tasted the hot, thick fluid and it fired her belly like hot coals. Her whole body was hot-inside and out. She licked at the salty-sweet nectar, and her hips rose to meet the thrust of the hard cock in her cunt. Steve had watched the performance. When Eddie's wad spewed all over her face, it lighted a new torch in Steve's guts. His cock swelled to its fullest proportions, filled with its own load, then shot off into her swamping-hot, hugging tunnel. Christ, what a fuck! He came, and it seemed like he would never stop. His juice filled her cunt and was beaten to a foam by his continued lashing into her. He grinned when he saw Anita crouched beside them, her hungry, eager eyes devouring the sight of his cock slamming into the other girl. Anita licked her lips and mewed tiny sounds of delight. He knew she was coming, too. As soon as he got off this chick, he would shove his head between Anita's thighs and lap up all that hot, sweet juice she was pouring out.
Joyce closed her eyes and was sucked into the whirlpool of oblivion. She was totally filled, satiated ... She licked her lips feebly and sighed. Blackness covered her, soft, delightful, black velvety clouds carried her along in the darkness. She drifted. Sounds tried to penetrate the haven, but she refused to admit them. She knew they were sounds of pleasure, sounds from Anita as she somehow found a semblance of delight to match Joyce's. But nothing could be quite as good...
When Joyce finally opened her eyes, the room was almost dark. Her head ached, and her whole body throbbed. It took several seconds to orient herself and recall where she was. Then she remembered bits and pieces of the evening, none very sharp. She eased herself to a sitting position, untangling someone's leg from her waist. It was too fuzzy and dim to be sure whose limb it was, but when she looked at the tangle of bodies on the bed, it didn't matter.
Very carefully she got up and stood looking at the others. They had all been together, she remembered-all engaged in multiple varieties of sex play and pleasure. She bit her lip. God! She still felt the tingling delight the games had left her. She had enjoyed every minute of it! It was hard to believe! Her mouth felt thick and dry and tasted the stale flavor of the whiskey she had consumed. That accounted for the headache!
She staggered to the bathroom and bent over the sink to splash cold water on her face. When her head cleared a little, she found a washcloth and cleaned her entire body quickly. She glanced at the shower stall but decided not to chance waking the others. She wanted to get out of here. She needed a chance to think, to sort her feelings and her thoughts. She rinsed the cloth and hung it over a rack.
Back in the bedroom she looked for her clothes. It took a few seconds to figure out that they had never gotten this far. She went into the living room and found the heap of garments next to the easy chair. Yes, she remembered now-this was where she and Eddie had begun...
She dressed quickly, then found her purse. She opened it and found her comb. As she tugged it through her hair, she thought about her keys. Eddie had had them this morning. She dug in the purse, but the keys were not there. She hadn't gotten them back. He must still have them.
She glanced around, then picked up Eddie's pants from behind the chair. She went through the pockets. She found her key case. And that wasn't all. She stared at the things she had extracted from the pocket. Her bankbook and the flat leather wallet in which she kept her extra cash. She shook her head and stared toward the bedroom. She opened the wallet and saw that the bills that had been there were gone. She bit her lip and blinked back the ready tears that formed in her eyes.
Numbly, she put the wallet and bankbook in her purse. She closed it, and with the key case in her other hand went out of the apartment quietly, closing the door behind her.
The night air was cool and soothing on her flushed face. She walked briskly the few doors to her own building and let herself into her dark apartment. She turned on a lamp and set her purse on the table. When she opened it to drop in the keys, she saw the application for the loan. Mr. Jarrett had told her to bring it in the morning. She took the paper out and looked at it without seeing it. The tears that she had dammed up overflowed and stung her cheeks.
She had been willing to do anything for Eddie. She believed his imagine words; she even added meaning to them that he never intended. Too clearly she saw that now. Eddie didn't love her. He never had even said he did-that had been her loneliness that wanted to hear words he'd never spoken. Eddie wanted her-sure he did!! He wanted her body in bed. He wanted her body to trade for his debts. He wanted the money she could supply or that he could steal from her. She had wanted love so badly that she was willing to be bound by his selfish needs.
She looked at the paper in her hand. She sniffed and wiped away the tears with an angry fist. Then slowly and deliberately, she tore the application into a dozen pieces and let them flutter into the wastebasket.
She needed love, wanted love. But she no longer needed or wanted Eddie. She would not be a prisoner of love. Or sex. Eddie had done that for her at least-he had opened the door to her sexuality. She could enjoy living now ... She was a total woman. She would no longer hide from the world and from reality. There were other men-plenty of them-and maybe some of them would be like Eddie, but some would be different, too. She smiled as she thought of Mr. Jarrett-his smile and his polite warmth. A man like that would know how to love a woman and let her love him.
She would have to see him tomorrow and tell him she had changed her mind about the loan. She smiled again and walked slowly to the bathroom. She needed a good, long, warm shower to rid her body of the last remnants of Eddie Adamo and the bonds that had held her.
